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HELEN B. HUBBERT 



accurate account of the excess effort expended, enabling a com- 

 parison as to the frequency and extent of the several possible 

 errors as well as a record of the exact steps in their elimination. 

 It can be determined whether a certain error is lessened at each 

 trial and finally disappears, or whether it is dropped out all at 

 once. In short we have an accurate method of tracing the 

 several factors involved in the learning of the maze problem, 

 and a basis for the analysis of the learning process which has 

 heretofore been lacking. 



FIGURE 2 Actual Tracing of Pathway Traversed by a Rat in the Maze 



The exact method employed in this research concerning the 

 relation of age to the learning ability was as follows: 



One week preceding the day on which the animal was to 

 begin work, food was removed from the living cage and the rat 

 was fed each day in the center of the maze which was tempor- 

 arily partitioned off from the remainder, making it impossible for 

 him to roam at will through the maze. The first day, he was 

 allowed to eat for forty-five minutes; the second day, for thirty 

 minutes; the third day, for twenty minutes. The feeding time 

 was then diminished five minutes on each succeeding day, so 



