366 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



back to see, or on coming to a turn failed to notice the opening and 

 thought he had run into a blind alley. 

 The results are as follows: 



I. Table of Absolute Time and Eeeob Values Attained in Each Geoup 



(The different groups are indicated thus: One — 12, etc.; the word indicates 

 the number of trials each day, the figure the number of successive days. The 

 two columns show the average of number of seconds consumed and number of 

 errors made in the last three trials in each group ; thus showing the relative 

 standing of groups at end of practice period. The figures in parentheses show 

 relative position.) 



Time, Errors, 



Per Cent. Per Cent. 



One— 12 50 (3) 4.8(4) 



Two— 6 61 (5) 5.2 (5) 



Three-^: 59 (4) 3.2(3) 



Four— 3 39 (1) .9 (1) 



Six— 2 75 (6) 5.5 (6) 



Twelve— 1 48 (2) 3.0 (2) 



II. Table of Peecentage Gains 



(In each case the percentage represents the ratio between the average of 

 first three trials and last three trials in the same group. This table is intended 

 to show improvement of each group irrespective of absolute values attained. ) 



Time, Errors, 



Per Cent. Per Cent. 



One— 12 210.0 (4) 147.9 (5) 



Two— 6 253.0 (3) 161.5 (4) 



Three— 4 195.0 (6) 302.0 (1) 



Four— 3 341.0 (2) 218.5 (3) 



Six— 2 206.6 (5) 125.3 (6) 



Twelve— 1 368.7 (1) 236.6 (2) 



(It must be said that the results of Six — 2 were vitiated by the professed 

 indifference of one subject, because of which both time and errors for the last 

 few trials in that group are abnormally high.) 



The results seem to point to the following conclusions: In general, 

 outside the Six — 2 group, the One — 12 and Two — 6 groups made the 

 lowest absolute records and also least improvement ; this apparently in- 

 dicates that the learning period was too prolonged, with insufficient 

 practise at any one time. On the other hand, the Twelve — 1 and Pour — 

 3 groups show in general the highest absolute records and greatest im- 

 provement. Here the practise was more thorough each time and not 

 so prolonged. The curve of greatest regularity is the Four — 3 curve. 

 The three groups, then, in which practise periods were longer and 

 confined to a few days show better results than the three in which 

 practise periods are shorter and prolonged over 4-12 days. The applica- 



