Fairly direct comparisons have been made between human and animal learning of mazes and puzzles. In the maze, the human subject has an initial advantage from knowing he is in a maze and has to master it, while the rat knows no more than that he is in a strange place, to be explored with caution on the odd chance that it may contain something eatable, or something dangerous. But, after once reaching the food box, the rat begins to put on speed in his movements, and within a few trials is racing through the maze faster than the adult man, though not so fast as a child. Adults are more circumspect and dignified, they make less speed, cover less distance, but also make fewer false moves [{314}] and finish in less time. That is in the early trials; adults do not hold their advantage long, since children and even rats also reach complete mastery of a simple maze in ten or fifteen trials.
The chief point of superiority of adults to human children, and of these to animals, can be seen in the adjacent table. It is in the first trial that the superiority of the adults shows most clearly. They get a better start, and adapt themselves to the situation more promptly. Their better start is due to (1) better understanding of the situation at the outset, (2) more plan, (3) less tendency to "go off on a tangent", i.e., to respond impulsively to every opening, without considering or looking ahead. The adult has more inhibition, the child more activity and responsiveness; the adult's inhibition stands him in good stead at the outset, but the child's activity enables him to catch up shortly in so simple a problem as this little maze.
AVERAGE NUMBER OF ERRORS MADE, IN EACH TRIAL IN
LEARNING A MAZE, BY RATS, CHILDREN AND ADULT MEN
(From Hicks and Carr)
Trial
No. Rats Children Adults
1 53 35 10
2 45 9 15
3 30 18 5
4 22 11 2
5 11 9 6
6 8 13 4
7 9 6 2
8 4 6 2
9 9 5 1
10 3 5 1
11 4 1 0
12 5 0 1
13 4 1 1
14 4 0 1
15 4 1 1
16 2 0 1
17 1 0 1
The table reads that, on the first trial in the maze, the
rats averaged 53 errors, the children 35 errors, and the
adults 10 errors, and so on. An "error" consisted in
entering a blind alley or in turning back on [{315}] the
course. The subjects tested consisted of 23 rats, five
children varying in age from 8 to 18 years, and four
graduate students of psychology. The human maze was much
larger than those used for the rats, but roughly about the
same in complexity. Since rats are known to make little
use of their eyes in learning a maze, the human subjects
were blindfolded. The rats were rewarded by food, the
others simply by the satisfaction of success.
The puzzle boxes used in experiments on animal learning are too simple for human adults, but mechanical puzzles present problems of sufficient difficulty. The experimenter hands the subject a totally unfamiliar puzzle, and notes the time required by the subject to take it apart; and this is repeated in a series of trials till mastery is complete. In addition to taking the time, the experimenter observes the subject's way of reacting, and the subject endeavors at the end of each trial to record what he has himself observed of the course of events.
The human subject's behavior in his first trial with a puzzle is often quite of the trial and error sort. He manipulates impulsively; seeing a possible opening he responds to it, and meeting a check he backs off and tries something else. Often he tries the same line of attack time and time again, always failing; and his final success, in the first trial, is often accidental and mystifying to himself.
On the second trial, he may still be at a loss, and proceed as before; but usually he has noticed one or two facts that help him. He is most likely to have noticed where he was in the puzzle when his accidental success occurred; for it appears that locations are about the easiest facts to learn for men as well as animals. In the course of a few trials, also, the human subject notices that some lines of attack are useless, and therefore eliminates them. After a time he may "see into" the puzzle more or less clearly, though sometimes he gets a practical mastery of the handling of the puzzle, while still obliged to confess that he does not understand it at all.
Insight, when it does occur, is of great value. Insight into the general principle of the puzzle leads to a better general plan of attack, and insight into the detailed difficulties of manipulation leads to smoother and defter handling. The human "learning curve" (see Figure 50) often shows a prolonged stretch of no improvement, followed by an abrupt change to quicker work; and the subject's introspections show that 76 per cent, or more of these sudden improvements followed immediately after some fresh insight into the puzzle.
