SOME TRANSFER FACTORS IN MAZE LEARNING BY 

 THE WHITE RAT 



J. F. DASHIELL 



The University of North Carolina 1 



The question as to the effect of one habit formed upon the 

 acquisition of a new habit is one that has had a goodly share of 

 attention from the psychologists in so far as it affects human learn- 

 ing. When recognized as a part of the field of " transfer of train- 

 ing" its experimental treatments are recognized as legion. 

 Practice on this, that, or another habit has been found to have 

 just so much or so little helpful or hindering effect upon the 

 development of a second habit. Experimental data have been 

 mustered to show that : training in discriminating sound inten- 

 sities seems to help in discriminating shades of gray; memorizing 

 four tones favorably affects the memorizing of geometrical fig- 

 ures or remembering extent of arm movement; learning of non- 

 sense syllables helps in the later learning of Italian words or in 

 the learning of numbers; practice in inscribing the letter X in 

 squares helps later in the inscribing of various geometrical figures, 

 etc. And whether the transfer effects are as great as some think 

 or not, various suggestions have been offered as to the factors 

 at work. Some say that it is a matter of identical elements in 

 the two kinds of content ; some ascribe more virtue to the carrying 

 over of incidental attitudes, of ideals, etc. But in the vast 

 majority of experimental studies these conclusions, in so far as 

 they become detailed and explicit, have been more or less largely 

 inferential. What frequently seems needed is definite, clear 

 isolation of just what was transferred. 



Now, one of the important functions of animal psychology is 

 the yielding of fruitful points of view for human psychology. 

 The workings of the animaPs mind being complicated by usually 



1 The experimental work was done in the Oberlin College laboratory. 



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PSTCHOBIOLOGY, VOL. II, NO. 4 



