186 J. F. DASHIELL 



2. The white rat shows curiosity to a striking degree. Its 

 large supply of energy is readily enlisted in the service of this 

 seeking of the novel. Even when hungry and feeding or when 

 nursing a litter the rat will leave off to examine any new object 

 put into its nest. Other things being equal, this curiosity motive 

 would be expected to re-inforee somewhat the tendency to enter 

 a new runway. 



Many other questions in the analysis of the maze problem 

 will suggest themselves to the experimenter, questions concerning 

 the values of different parts of the maze not only for initial trials 

 but also for the whole period of learning. A few of them are : 



1. What is the potency of a blind alley opening on a side of 

 the runway and just preceding a turn in the true path hi the 

 same direction, as compared with a blind alley just following 

 such a turn or one on the other side of the runway from a turn, 

 etc.? 



2. Will a given number of blind alleys offer more difficulties 

 to the learning subject if placed simultaneously in the maze or 

 serially? 



3. Does the difficulty of a maze as a whole increase progres- 

 sively with the number of blind alleys offered? If so, what type 

 of mathematical progression obtains? 



4. Is there any change in relative difficulty of different parts 

 of a maze as the subject's trials increase in number? 



5. To what extent would the findings on these or other similar 

 questions be dependent upon the particular species and age of 

 subject used? 



As hinted before, this report is made not so much on the strength 

 of the numerical findings given as for the outlining of a complex 

 of quantitative analytic problems important to maze work and 

 for whatever of value it suggests in the matter of experimental 

 approach. 



