46 . HARRY MILES JOHNSON 



when the click or flash comes ; and if \\'e may speak for the 

 moment in terms of consciousness, the degree of "attention" 

 to the auditory stimulus itself is minimal. In the stimulus- 

 cage, however, since the choice of reaction must be made on 

 the basis of a single characteristic of the tone, the demands on 

 his "attention" — at least until he has formed many new asso- 

 ciations — are necessarily much greater than in the "natural" 

 situation. Accordingly for a time at least his behavior should 

 be expected to be quite different from what it would be in the 

 "natural" situation. But there is no need for lamentation over 

 this condition; it is imposed on every experimentor in sen- 

 sation or sensory responses in which results are to be trustworthy. 

 As to the other half of this suggestion — that the animal 

 reacts under emotional constraint — I do not feel so generous. 

 Certainly some emotional disturbance attends the giving of' 

 punishment and I am by no means convinced that in working 

 with an animal as highly organized as is the dog, it is desirable 

 to use punishment. But once the animal has become accus- 

 tomed to his daily work the signs of "emotional constraint" 

 are few. The dogs which I have used are always eager to work; 

 the excitement which attends the experience probably compen- 

 sates in large measure for hunting and other instinctive reac- 

 tions, which the animal in captivity cannot make. My dogs 

 on being admitted to the experimental room certainly perform 

 the reactions which a hunting dog makes when presented with 

 a gun, and which are commonly inteipreted as "signs of 

 pleasure." ^- 



EXPERIMENTS ON DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN NOISES 

 The point admitted in the discussion of the first part of the 

 last mentioned criticism, may seem to some to strengthen a 

 criticism which has been made: namely, that there is a hiatus 



^^ I feel that it is hardly necessary to consider the suggestion which has been 

 made, that the dogs which I used, being mongrels, should be expected to prove 

 less sensitive to pitch-difference than blooded dogs; and further that acuity of 

 audition varies greatly in different breeds. This certainly is Kalischer's report, 

 but as has been shown in the remarks on his method, this result is no more reliable 

 than the rest which he reports, as it is not evident that his animals were reacting 

 to tone. I know of no other data offered as experimental evidence. But admitting 

 the fact, the criticism is without point as applied to this work. My dogs used in 

 the preliminary experiments showed the same ajjjjarent discrimination as did 

 Kalischer's, Rothmami's and Swift's; i)erhaps greater, liecause they actually made 

 ■pprfect records for three days in succession. The control tests indicate that 

 this discrimination was only ajtparent. 



