2S E. L. rilORNDIKE. 



is in all these cases a noticeable tendency, of the cause of which 

 I am iirnorant, to diminish the act until it becomes a mere ves- 

 tige of\ lick or scratch. After the cat gets so that it performs 

 the act soon after being put in, it begins to do it less and less 

 vigorously. The licking degenerates into a mere quick turn of 

 the head with one or two motions up and down with tongue ex- 

 tended. Instead of a hearty scratch, the cat waves its paw up 

 and down rapidly for an instant. Moreover, if sometimes you do 

 not let the cat out after this feeble reaction, it does not at once 

 repeat the movement, as it would do if it depressed a thumb- 

 piece, for instance, without success in getting the door open. Of 

 the reason for this difference I am again ignorant. 



Previous experience makes a difference in the quickness 

 with which the cat forms the associations. After getting out of 

 six or eight boxes by different sorts of acts the cat's general 

 tendency to claw at loose objects within the box is strengthened 

 and its tendency to squeeze through holes and bite bars is weak- 

 ened ; accordingly it will learn associations along the general 

 line of the old more quickly. Further, its tendency to pay 

 attention to what it is doing gets strengthened, and this is some- 

 thing which may properly be called a change in degree of in- 

 telligence. A test was made of the influence of experience in 

 this latter way by putting two groups of cats through I (lever), 

 one group (i, 2, 3, 4, 5) after considerable experience, the 

 other (10, II, 12) after experience with only one box. As the 

 act in I was not along the line of the acts in previous boxes, and 

 as a decrease in the squeezings and bitings would be of little 

 use in the box as arranged, the influence of experience in the 

 former way was of little account. The curves of all are shown 

 on page 22. 



If the whole set of curves are examined in connection with 

 the following table, which gives the general order in which 

 each animal took up the different associations which he eventu- 

 ally formed, many suggestions of the influence of experience 

 will be met with. The results are not exhaustive enough to 

 justify more than the general conclusion that there is such an 

 influence. By taking more individuals and thus eliminating all 

 other factors besides experience, one can easily show just how 

 and how far experience facilitates association. 



