INDICES OF MODIFIABILITY
LEARNING
RE-LEARNING
Females . . . . . . . 104
42.5
Males . . . . . . . . 72
54
The behavior of the mice in the experiments, the detailed
results of Tables 49 and 50, and the indices of modifiability
together justify the following conclusions. Most
of the ten dancers, at the end of a rest interval
of eight weeks, had so far lost the habit of white-black
discrimination that memory tests furnished no conclusive
evidence of the influence of previous training; a
few individuals seemed to possess traces of the habit
after such an interval. In the case of each group
of individuals re-training brought about the establishment
of a perfect habit far more quickly than did the original
training. This suggests the existence of two
kinds or aspects of organic modification in connection
with training; those which constitute the basis of
a definite form of motor activity, and those which
constitute the bases or dispositions for the acquirement
of certain types of behavior. There are several
indications that further study of the modifiability
of behavior will furnish the facts which are necessary
to render this suggestion meaningful.
Closely related to the facts which have been revealed
by the re-training experiments are certain results
of the labyrinth experiments. For the student
of animal behavior, as for the human educator, it is
of importance to learn whether one kind of training
increases the efficiency of similar forms of training.
Can a dancer learn a given labyrinth path the more
readily because it has previously had experience in
another form of labyrinth?
The answer to this question, which my experimental
results furnish, is given in Table 51. In the
upper half of the table have been arranged the results
for six individuals which were trained first in labyrinth
B, then in labyrinth C, and finally in labyrinth D.
Below, in similar fashion, are given the results for
six individuals which were trained in the same three
labyrinths in the order C, B, D, instead of B, C, D.
My purpose in giving the training in these two orders
was to ascertain whether labyrinth C, which had proved
to be rather difficult for most individuals, would
be more easily learned if the training in it were
preceded by training in labyrinth C.
THE INFLUENCE OF ONE LABYRINTH HABIT UPON THE FORMATION
OF ANOTHER
LABYRINTH
B LABYRINTH C LABYRINTH D
NO. OF NO.
OF NO. OF NO. OF NO.
OF NO. OF
NO. FIRST COR- LAST OF FIRST COR- LAST
OF FIRST COR- LAST OF
RECT TEST FIVE COR-
RECT TEST FIVE COR- RECT TEST FIVE COR-
RECT
TESTS RECT TESTS RECT TESTS
76 8 14 3 19 4 7
78 5 20 6 14 4 5
86 13 22 5 12 3 9
75 4 15 8 19 4 13
77 7 11 11 29 11 12
87 12 22 9 20 4 9
