The Dancing Mouse: A Study in Animal Behavior

by Robert Mearns Yerkes

[Illustration: FIGURE 28.—Plan of Labyrinth D, as reproduced from a print made with a rubber stamp. I, entrance; O, exit; numerals 1 to 13, errors.]

Labyrinth C is a type of maze which might properly be described as irregular, since the several possible errors are extremely different in nature. In view of the results which this labyrinth yielded, it seemed important that the dancer be tested in a perfectly regular maze of the labyrinth-D type. The plan which I designed as a regular labyrinth has been reproduced, from a rubber stamp print, in Figure 28. As is true also of the mazes previously described, it provides four kinds of possible mistakes: namely, by turning to the left (errors 1, 5, 9, and 13), by turning to the right (errors 3, 7, and 11), by moving straight ahead (errors 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12), and by turning back and retracing the path just followed. The formula for the correct path of D is simple in the extreme, in spite of the large number of mistakes which are possible, for it is merely "a turn to the right at the entrance, to the left at the first doorway, and thereafter alternately to the right and to the left until the exit is reached." This concise description would enable a man to find his way out of such a maze with ease. Labyrinth D had been constructed with an exit at 10 so that it might be used as a nine-error maze if the experimenter saw fit, or as a thirteen-error maze by the closing of the opening at 10. In the experiments which are now to be described only the latter form was used.

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

2 3 7 29 10 11
58 7 10 49 7 8
30 9 10 57 3 6
60 10 14 215 6 10
402 10 11 415 7 8
76 4 7 75 4 13
78 4 5 77 11 12
86 3 9 87 4 9
88 4 8 85 3 4
90 7 8 83 4 7

Av. 6.1 8.9 Av. 5.9 8.8

From the results of these labyrinth experiments with dancers I am led to conclude that a standard maze for testing the modifiability of behavior of different kinds of animals should be constructed in conformity with the following suggestions. Errors by turning to the right, to the left, and by moving forward should occur with equal frequency, and in such order that no particular kind of error occurs repeatedly in succession. If we should designate these three types of mistake by the letters r, l, and s respectively, the error series of labyrinth C would read l-l-r-s-l. It therefore violates the rule of construction which I have just formulated. In the case of labyrinth D the series would read l-s-r-s-l-s-r-s-l-s-r-s- l. This also fails to conform with the requirement, for there are three errors of the first type, four of the second, and six of the third. Again, in a standard maze, the blind alleys should all be of the same length, and care should be taken to provide a sufficiently strong and uniform motive for escape. In the case of one animal the desire to escape from confinement may prove a satisfactory motive; in the case of another, the desire for food may conveniently supplement the dislike of confinement; and in still other cases it may appear that some form of punishment for errors is the only satisfactory basis of a motive for escape. Readers of this account of the behavior of the dancing mouse must not infer from my experimental results that the electric shock as a means of forcing discrimination will prove satisfactory in work with other animals or even with all other mammals. As a matter of fact it has already been proved by Doctor G. van T. Hamilton that the use of an electric shock may so intimidate a dog that experimentation is rendered difficult and of little value. And finally, in connection with this discussion of a standard Labyrinth, I wish to emphasize the importance of so recording the results of experiments that they may be interpreted in terms of an animal's tendency to turn to the right or to the left. My work with the dancer has clearly shown that the avoidance of a particular error may be extremely difficult for left whirlers and very easy for right whirlers.