DELAYED REACTION 71 



habitual with the animal. The whole process is explicable on 

 the basis of habit. Maintenance of orientation is acquired 

 gradually by the trial and error method as is any habit. 



The case of the non-orientation cues presents more difficulty. 

 During the preliminary learning tests there was established by 

 the trial and error method an association between the lights 

 and the three acts of securing food. Between the two terms 

 of each of these three primary associations there was interpolated 

 probably by the trial and error method an intermediary link. 

 These three cues were associated with their respective lights on 

 the one hand and their respective acts on the other. Each light 

 will now awaken its corresponding cue and this cue will in turn 

 initiate the act with which it has been associated. In order to 

 insure correctness of response, the proper cue must be present 

 at or immediately after the release. As the interval of delay 

 between the light stimulus and the response is increased in 

 length, we have three possibilities as to the behavior of the 

 intermediary link or cue. (i) After being aroused by the light 

 stimulus, the cue may persist, or be constantly maintained, 

 during the interval of delay. All of the available evidence tends 

 to disprove such a hypothesis. The raccoons were frequently 

 distracted during the delays by various laboratory noises, such 

 as the squealing of rats and the rattling of windows. Note was 

 made of these occurrences and still correct responses were pos- 

 sible in spite of these distractions. The raccoons were exceed- 

 ingly active during the delays, pawing and clawing and running 

 all about the release box. I often distracted the animals by 

 bending down over the release box and yelling at them at the 

 top of my voice. A typical case occurred when Bob was making 

 a delay of 15 sees. — with a very high percentage of correct 

 responses. These distractions during delay lowered his per- 

 centage approximately eight points. His behavior indicated 

 that this treatment actually diverted his "attention" from the 

 problem at hand. The emotional character of such a disturb- 

 ance makes the high percentage of correct behavior especially 

 significant. I also continually distracted the children during the 

 delays b}^ engaging their attention with stories, drawing pictures, 

 conversation, etc. In fact the attention and interest of the 

 children were often engaged to the point of absorption by these 

 devices with no effect upon the correctness of their reactions. 



