EFFECTS OF STRYCHNINE UPON RATE OF LEARNING 163 



caffeinized rats less continuously active than their controls, 

 although the differences were not great. This is the inverse 

 relation to the rates of running found and emphasizes the fact 

 which appears most clearly in the averages of all trials, that the 

 movements of the strychninized rats were retarded and those of 

 the caffeinized rats were accelerated by the drugs. 



When the averages of all trials, exclusive of the first one and 

 the last three (table 10, last column) are considered the slow 

 movements of the strychnine rats and the rapid movements of 

 the caffeine appear unmistakably. If the records of the rate of 

 running of the water-controls are taken as standard, the average 

 rates of the strychninized animals are (B) 95, (A) 53, and (C) 

 72 per cent of this respectively; those of the caffeinized are (C) 

 123, (G) 200, and (H) 272 per cent of their controls. 



I have already mentioned the characteristic behavior of the 

 strychninized rats when approaching the turns in the maze (p. 149) . 

 Those rats which showed other effects of the drug, tremor, etc., 

 usually slowed down and approached the entrance from one 

 alley to the next cautiously, turning their heads from side to 

 side and smelling the edges of the opening before going through. 

 This behavior, which did not persist long after the maze-habit 

 became automatized, was never apparent in the caffeinized 

 rats or in the controls. With its disappearance the rate of 

 running increased also to equal or exceed that of the controls. 

 This is shown by the average speed of the rats during the tests 

 for efficiency (table 11). 



The caffeinized rats not infrequently seemed to be in a high 

 state of excitement during training. Greater care was neces- 

 sary in confining them in the food compartment of the maze 

 than for the other groups, as a slight noise or jarring of the maze 

 would bring them rushing from the food to hide in one of the 

 blind alleys of the maze. Once they had begun to acquire the 

 habit their behavior differed less from the strychninized rats and 

 from the controls, but instead of approaching the turns of the 

 maze cautiously, they frequently dashed ahead at a speed which 

 carried them almost past the openings before they could turn. 

 This behavior also became less noticeable as the habit became 



P8YCHOBIOLOGY, VOL. T, NO. 2 



