8 WALTER S. HUNTER 



animal that is supposed to react to a certain stimulus, but, being 

 on the qui vive, reacts to anything that occurs at the proper 

 moment. This behavior is familiar in human reaction experi- 

 ments. If, now, we subtract the possible emotional disturb- 

 ances (and I doubt whether that even is necessary), we have 

 the type of case, I believe, that the experiments of Hobhouse 

 present. 



3. Dreams 



A third argument used for ideas is the supposed fact of an mal 

 dreams. The usual criticism of this — to which I subscribe — is 

 that the law of parsimony forces one to recognise that the inter- 

 pretation of the facts may as well or better be physiological than 

 ideational. 



4. Learning Curve 



A fourth argument used in the discussion as to the presence 

 of ideas is the nature of the learning curve. In 1898, Thorn- 

 dike^" presented data for cats which when plotted gave what the 

 author termed a "gradual slope." "The gradual slope of the 

 time curve, — shows the absence of reasoning." It represents 

 "the wearing smooth of a path in the brain, not the decisions 

 of a rational consciousness." There seems to be no doubt but 

 that Thorndike meant that had ideas been present to guide the 

 reactions that the latter would have succeeded within a few 

 trials. Hobhouse would seem to agree with Thorndike that 

 such a curve as the latter claimed to present was evidence of 

 the absence of imagery. His criticism of Thorndike is to the 

 effect that the former's curves are not gradual — "unless the 

 slope of a church steeple is gradual." 



The (apparently) common assumption of these writers has 

 been questioned effectively both by Watson 2' and by Hicks and 

 Carr." The criticism of the latter authors is factual and is 

 summed up as follows : " Our results indicate that any inference 

 from such a general characteristic of a curve is not feasible, 

 because we are dealing with a complex phenomenon due to 

 several independently variable factors. Our results indicate that 



^"Thorndike, E. L. Animal Intelligence. Psy. Rev. Mon. Supp., 1898, vol. 

 2, p. 45. 



^' Watson, J. B. Kinaesthetie and Organic Sensations. Psy. Rev. Mon. Supp., 

 1907, vol. 8, pp. 23-4. 



^* Hicks, V. C. and Carr, H. A. Human Reactions in a Maze. Jour, of Animal 

 Behavior, 1912, vol. 2, pp. 116-118. 



