RETENTION OF HABITS BY THE RAT 5 



noted, as their characteristics are evidences of learning or lack 

 of learning, and of retention of the maze habits. These activi- 

 ties relate to the reactions at the door of the starting box and to 

 the shortening of the path to the food. When first introduced 

 into the starting compartment of the maze the rat sniffs at the 

 wire cover, sides, and corners of the compartment and pays no 

 particular attention to the door. When the door is first raised 

 he almost always stands erect and sniffs at its lower edge before 

 venturing into the first alley. With practice his reactions be- 

 come centered on the door; he tries to push it up or sniffs at the 



FIG. 1. SIMPLE MAZE 



a Starting compartment; e, food. The dotted line shows the path taken by 

 well trained animals, keeping close to the right-hand partition and cutting close 

 around the corner. 



crack under it. The moment that the experimenter touches 

 the door to open it the rat turns with his head in the right front 

 corner of the starting compartment and as soon as the door is 

 raised high enough to admit his body crawls out into the alley. 

 This behavior is noted in the records of the different animals as 

 " normal orientation to opening door." In his first trials in the 

 maze the rat spends much time in sniffing at the wire cover, the 

 walls, and particularly the corners of the maze. The trained 

 rat can go from the starting compartment to the food in 1.2 

 seconds. The minimum time on the first trial for any of the 

 sixty rats that have been trained has been eight seconds and 



