NEED FOR ANALYTICAL STUDY OF MAZE PROBLEM 



185 



maze). It is to be noted that when an animal was moving 

 backward in the path (i.e., toward the entrance) a turn into a 

 blind alley and out again toward the maze entrance was counted 

 as "forward," and under the same conditions a turn out of the 

 blind alley toward the maze exit was called "backward." Table 

 1 gives the totals for all mazes and subjects. 



TABLE 1 



From this table the conclusions, so far as our experiments go, 

 are as follows. 



1. A blind alley opening straight ahead is more likely to be 

 entered than to be passed, in about the ratio of 5 to 3. 



2. A blind alley opening at the side is about as likely to be 

 entered as to be passed. 



3. The exit from a blind alley opening straight ahead is more 

 likely to be in the forward than in the reverse or backward 

 direction, in about the ratio of 3 to 2. 



4. The exit from a blind alley opening at the side is more 

 likely to be in the forward than in the reverse direction, in about 

 the ratio of 3 J to 1. 



So much for the empirical findings. But theoretical antici- 

 pation had not been different, and this because of two consider- 

 ations. 



1. The white rat has been shown to possess a rather reliable 

 sense of direction, 2 and this might be expected to give prepotency 

 to the openings appearing in the forward-going direction. In 

 this case the direction-sense would seem to operate especially 

 as a sense-of-direction-in-which-one-is-going rather than a sense- 

 of-direction-of-destination. 



2 J. F. Dashiell. Some Transfer Factors in Maze Learning by the White 

 Rat, to appear in JOURNAL OF PSYCHOBIOLOQY. 



