ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 



n 



accident will happen sooner in one trial than another is then a 

 matter of chance. Considering the general slope, it is, of 

 course, apparent that a gradual descent — say, from initial times 

 of 300 sec. to a constant time of 6 or 8 sec. in the course of 20 

 to 30 trials — represents a dithcult association, while an abrupt de- 

 scent, say in 5 trials, from a similar initial height, represents a 

 very easy association. Thus, 2 in Z, on page 23, is a hard, 

 and I in I, on page 22, an easy association. 



In boxes A, C, D, E, I, 100 % of the cats given a chance 

 to do so hit upon the movement and formed the association. 

 The following table shows the results where some cats failed. 



No. cats tried. No. cats failed. 



F 

 G 

 H 



J 

 K 



The time-curves follow. By referring to the description 

 of apparatus they will be easily understood. Each mm. along 

 the abscissa represents one trial. Each mm. above it repre- 

 sents 10 seconds. 



These time-curves show, in the first place, what associations 

 are easy for an animal to form, and what are hard. The act 

 must be one which the animal will perform in the course of the 

 activity which its inherited equipment incites or its previous ex- 

 perience has connected with the sense-impression of a box's 

 interior. The oftener the act naturally occurs in the course of 

 such activity, the sooner it will be performed in the first trial or 

 so, and this is one condition, sometimes, of the ease of forming 

 the association. For if the first few successes are five minutes 

 apart the influence of one may nearly wear off before the next, 

 while if they are forty seconds apart the influences may get 

 summated. But this is not the only or the main condition of the 

 celerity with which an association may be formetl. It depends 

 also on the amount of attention civen to the act. An act of 



