Berry, Imitation in Cats. 23 



1. Through instinctive imitation the cat performs the act once. 

 As far as performing the act the second time is concerned the cat 

 now is on the same basis as the animal that has accidentally per- 

 formed the act once. But if the trained cat continues to perform 

 the act, then the imitator has in addition to its first experience the 

 experience of the trained cat to help in stamping in the association. 

 Here it is that the transition to voluntary imitation occurs. 



2. Voluntary imitation, where the imitator gets food each time 

 the imitatee performs the required act (Experiment 2). 



3. Voluntary imitation, where the imitator is not fed when the 

 imitatee performs the required act, but is free to imitate (Experi- 

 ment 4). 



4. Voluntary imitation, where the imitator observes from 

 another compartment the imitatee perform the required act. For 

 reasons already stated* I do not think that imitation of this kind is 

 to be found in rats and cats. 



In the course of these experiments there were many instances of 

 automatic imitation. In Experiment 6, Z formed the habit of 

 looking into the hole in the bottom of the box. If another cat 

 looked into the hole, she would almost invariably take a look. 

 Again, when I changed the nature of the mechanism, yet used the 

 same box, the trained cat went to the place where the string had 

 been and scratched there. After doing this a few times she made 

 no further efforts, but if later another cat went to that same spot 

 and scratched the first went and did likewise. 



Evidently automatic imitation enables an animal to retain what 

 otherwise would soon be forgotten. Unlike human beings, they 

 are very dependent upon external stimuli to enable them to utilize 

 their past experience. For this reason automatic imitation plays 

 an important part in enabling them to retain and utilize their past. 

 If four or five kittens are taught to perform an act that results in the 

 securing of food, the chances are that such an act will be performed 

 by the individual members of that group much longer if they are 

 kept together than it would if they were separated. For when 

 one performs the act, the others automatically or voluntarily 

 imitate him. In this way acts that have once been learned may 

 be retained and made the basis of the performance of more com- 

 plex acts. 



* The Imitative Tendency of White Rats. Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology, vol. 

 16, p. 360. 1906. 



