54 WALTER S. HUNTER 



that only one button would make a noise, (b) In the regular 

 learning series, the children had to acquire the association 

 between noisy button and light on their own initiation. It 

 must be remembered that the experimenter never mentioned 

 the word light and never directed the subjects' attention to 

 the lights as long as the experiments continued, (c) In the 

 delayed reaction, also, the children were thrown on their own 

 resources in the working out of the problem. (4) Treatment 

 during the delay. — During the interval of delay the rats, dogs 

 and raccoons were usually left strictly alone. Only in a few 

 control tests was any effort made to distract them. However, 

 uncontrollable noises occasionally intervened and disturbed the 

 dogs and the raccoons. During the period of delay, the children 

 were entertained by the experimenter by means of stories, the 

 drawing of pictures and, in a few of the long delays, by gifts of 

 candy. In his opinion, these distractions made the experiment 

 more difficult, although it is true that impatience and fretting 

 on the part of the subject were largely eliminated. It would 

 thus seem that the only objection to this method is that possibly 

 the distractions served to urge the child to form a "purpose to 

 remember" sooner than would otherwise have been the case. 

 I cannot deny this as a possibility. It may have occurred with 

 the girl M. But from the fact that the others remained impa- 

 tient and complained of the delay until late in the experimenta- 

 tion, I do not believe they realized before that time that the 

 problem was to see how long they could remember. Question- 

 ing on this point at the close of the experimentation confirmed 

 this. (5) Possibility of the problem being talked over by the 

 subjects. — This, of course, has no bearing on the case of the 

 animals, but it presents a fairly serious possibility with respect 

 to the children. The possibility is all the greater because of 

 the fact that four of the children lived in the same neighbor- 

 hood. Although recognizing this, I feel that it played very 

 little part in the experiments ; for where it might have been 

 effective, the tests continued but ten days. M was old enough 

 to do as she was told, unless severe temptation came her way. 

 Such a possibility, however, was prevented by cold weather and 

 school keeping her away from the other children. As will be 

 pointed out later, talking could not have influenced H's con- 

 duct because she knew all about the experiment. F was under 



