The results of the continuous training method for
these two mice were so strikingly different from those
yielded by the other methods that I at once suspected
the influence of some factor other than that of the
number of tests per day. The ages of Nos. 51
and 60 at the time of their tests were twenty-two
and seventeen weeks, respectively, whereas all the
individuals used in connection with the other efficiency
tests were four weeks of age. It seemed possible
that the slow habit formation exhibited in the continuous
training experiments might be due to the greater age
of the mice. I therefore selected a healthy active
female which was only eight weeks old, and tried to
train her by the continuous training method.
With this individual, No. 87, the results were even
more discouraging than those previously obtained,
for she was still imperfect in her discrimination
at the end of two hundred and ten tests. At that
point the experiment was interrupted, and it seemed
scarcely worth while to continue it further at a later
date. The evidence of the extremely low efficiency
of the continuous method in comparison with the other
methods which we have been considering is so conclusive
that further comment seems superfluous.
We are now in a position to compare the results of
the several methods of training which have been applied
to the dancer, and to attempt to get satisfactory
quantitative expressions of the efficiency of each
method. I have arranged in Table 46 the general
averages yielded by the four methods. Although
these general results hide certain important facts
which will be exhibited later, they clearly indicate
that an increase in the number of tests per day does
not necessarily result in an increase in the rapidity
of habit formation. Should we attempt, on superficial
examination, to interpret the figures of this table,
we would doubtless say that in efficiency the two-five-test
method stands first, the continuous-test method last,
while the ten-test and twenty-test methods occupy
intermediate positions.
TABLE 46
EFFICIENCY OF TRAINING
Number of Errors in White-Black Series for Different
Methods of Training
SETS OF 10 2 OR 5 TESTS 10 TESTS 20 TESTS
100 OR MORE
PER
DAY PER DAY PER DAY TESTS PER DAY
