THE EFFECT OF DELAYED FEEDING UPON 

 LEARNING 



V 



JOHN B. WATSON 



From the Psychological Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University 



In the Psychological Bulletin of February, 1916, I gave the 

 results of some experiments on the effect of delayed feeding upon 

 rapidity of habit formation. The experiment there summarized 

 was carried out in the psychological laboratory of the Johns 

 Hopkins University in the winter and spring of 1915. Six male 

 rats approximately one hundred days of age and six male rats 

 approximately sixty days of age were required to learn the 

 simple problem of entering the food box shown below (fig. 1). 



The problem box and restraining cage were of the same gen- 

 eral character as figured in my book. 1 Two modifications of the 

 problem box there figured were essential: the first was to pro- 

 vide a means of keeping the animal from going back into the 

 restraining cage after it had solved the problem by entering b. 

 This was accomplished by means of a thin metal shutter held 

 down by a light string. The shutter was made slightly larger 

 than the opening. It was held open by the experimenter through 

 the aid of a string passing to the outside of the restraining case. 

 After the animal's tail had cleared b the string was released and 

 the spring closed the shutter. The time was taken from the 

 moment the animal passed through a the opening into the re- 

 straining cage until its body had cleared b. The interval of time 

 the animal spent in the under-floor space, passing through c, 

 etc., was not recorded. The second modification was necessi- 

 tated by the fact that a means had to be provided for restraining 

 the animal from getting its food until a definite time interval 

 had passed. This was accomplished by making a cylindrical 



1 Behavior, Henry Holt and Company, 1914, pp. 94 ff. 



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PSYCHOBIOLOGY, VOL. I, NO. 1 



