DISTANCE IN THE SELECTION OF A PATH 



247 



being closed. The door of only one food-box was open at any 

 one time. By alternating the position of the food-boxes the 

 influence of any tendency to form an association between the 

 food and direction of turn was eliminated. At the beginning 

 of a series of experiments with any rat the difference between 



the short and long path was relatively large and was made 

 smaller and smaller until the rat after repeated trials failed to 

 select the short path. Usually 10 or 15 trials were made on each 

 experimental day with the direction and distance of the food-box 

 constant. In no case was the food-box visible from the rat's 

 starting point. 



