12 WALTER S. HUNTER 



an image of A for an image of B. Yet, unless they do this, 

 they have to suppose that A comes and goes, and that after ten 

 seconds C comes, and, passing over the intervening B blank, 

 willfully chooses out A and associates itself with it. There are 

 some other considerations regarding the behavior of the cats 

 from the time the signal was given till they climbed up, which 

 may be omitted in the hope that it will soon be possible to 

 perform a decisive experiment. If an observer can make sure 

 of the animal's attention to a sequence A-B, where B does not 

 arouse any impulse to act, and then later get the animal to 

 associate B with C, leaving A out this time, he may then, if 

 A, when presented anew, arouses C, bid the deniers of represen- 

 tations to forever hold their peace." 



First as to the data obtained, Thorndike's results indicate 

 only the magnitude of the interval between two stimuli which 

 association can bridge. Using his symbols, B and C have been 

 associated before this experiment was begun. The hand clap- 

 ping,. A, now precedes B by ten seconds. At the end of from 

 thirty to sixty trials, the cat climbs up at A rather than waiting 

 until B appears. Now must we assume either that the "A" 

 neurosis, and hence the "A" psychosis, persists or that A has 

 resulted in the central arousal of B? Not at all. There is good 

 evidence to show that association in animals can bridge an 

 interval of ten seconds and more. Nearly all behavior experi- 

 ments cover at least ten seconds from the beginning of the 

 test to the acquisition of food. Yet it is necessary that the 

 first and the last of the test be associated in order to provide 

 a motive for the complete reaction. In no case — Thorndike's 

 not excepted — is the ten seconds a sheer gap. (Thorndike did 

 not describe the behavior of the cats during the interval, although 

 he did refer to it.) The animal is reacting during the interval. 

 Motor attitudes at least are present to fill the gap. An animal 

 as high in the scale as a cat could certainly form this simple 

 association between a sound and a single reaction within sixty 

 trials. Moreover, it is to be remembered that only two cats 

 succeeded within this time. Two others were tested for one 

 hundred and thirty-five trials, but uniform reactions were not 

 secured. The situation would have been quite different had 

 there been two or more signals, "A's," and as many different 



