Can the dancer learn a regular labyrinth path more
quickly than an irregular one? Again, I may give
only a brief statement of results. Each of the
twenty dancers, of Table 40, which were trained in
labyrinth D had previously been given opportunity
to learn the path of C, and most of them had been
trained also in labyrinth B. All of them learned this
regular path with surprising rapidity. The numerical
results of the tests with labyrinths B, C, and D,
as well as the behavior of the mice in these several
mazes, prove conclusively that the nature of the errors
is far more important than their number. Labyrinth
D with its thirteen chances of error on the forward
trip was not nearly as difficult for the dancer to
learn to escape from as labyrinth C with its five errors.
That the facility with which the twenty individuals
whose records are given in Table 40 learned the path
of D was not due to their previous labyrinth experience
rather than to the regularity of the maze is proved
by the results which I obtained by testing in D individuals
which were new to labyrinth experiments. Even
in this case, the number of tests necessary for a
successful trip was seldom greater than ten. If
further evidence of the ease with which a regular
labyrinth path may be followed by the dancer were
desired, it might be obtained by observation of the
behavior of an individual in labyrinths C and D. In
the former, even after it has learned the path perfectly,
the mouse hesitates at the doorways from time to time
as if uncertain whether to turn to one side or go forward;
in the latter there is seldom any hesitation at the
turning points. The irregular labyrinth is followed
carefully, as by choice of the path from point to
point; the regular labyrinth is followed in machine
fashion,—once started, the animal dashes
through it.
TABLE 40
RESULTS OF LABYRINTH-D EXPERIMENTS, WITH TWENTY DANCERS
MALES
FEMALES
NO. OF NO. OF FIRST NO. OF LAST OF NO. OF NO. OF FIRST NO. OF LAST OF
MOUSE CORRECT TWO CORRECT MOUSE CORRECT TWO CORRECT
TEST TESTS TEST TESTS
