TABLE II.
LABYRINTH HABIT. FROG NO. 2.
| Entrance. | Exit. | Remarks. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trials. | Right. | Wrong. | Right. | Wrong. | |||||
| 1- 10 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 6 | |||||
| One day rest. | |||||||||
| 11- 20 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 5 | |||||
| 21- 30 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 3 | |||||
| 31- 40 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | |||||
| 41- 50 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 2 | |||||
| (17) | (33) | (30) | (20) | ||||||
| 51- 60 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 2 | |||||
| 61- 70 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 0 | |||||
| 71- 80 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 1 | |||||
| 81- 90 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 2 | |||||
| 91-100 | 10 | (50) | 0 | (10) | 10 | (52) | 0 | ( 8) | |
| — | — | — | — | ||||||
| 67 | 43 | 82 | 28 | ||||||
Other animals which were used gave results so similar to those for frog No. 2 that I feel justified in presenting the latter as representative of the rapidity with which the green frog profits by experience.
TABLE III.
LABYRINTH HABIT. FROG NO. 6a.
| Entrance. | Exit. | Remarks. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trials | Right. | Wrong. | Right. | Wrong. | |||||
| 1- 10 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | |||||
| One day rest. | |||||||||
| 11- 20 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 6 | |||||
| 21- 30 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 9 | |||||
| 31- 40 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 9 | |||||
| 41- 50 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 2 | |||||
| (28) | (22) | (19) | (31) | ||||||
| 51- 60 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 3 | |||||
| 61- 70 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | |||||
| 71- 80 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 7 | |||||
| One day rest. | |||||||||
| 81- 90 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 3 | |||||
| 91-100 | 10 | (30) | 0 | (20) | 8 | (29) | 2 | (21) | |
| — | — | — | — | ||||||
| (58) | (44) | (48) | (52) | ||||||
Preliminary Trials.
| Red on Left | Partition at Exit on Right | |
|---|---|---|
| 1- 5 | 5 times to Red | 4 times to Partition. |
| Red on Right | Partition at Exit on Left | |
| 6-10 | 3 times to Red | 5 times to Partition. |
2. Rapidity of Habit Formation.—As compared with other vertebrates whose rapidity of habit formation is known, the frog learns slowly. Experimental studies on the dog, cat, mouse, chick and monkey furnish excellent evidence of the ability of these animals to profit quickly by experience through the adapting of their actions to new conditions. They all show marked improvement after a few trials, and after from ten to thirty most of them have acquired perfect habits. But the comparison of the frog with animals which are structurally more similar to it is of greater interest and value, and we have to inquire concerning the relation of habit formation in the frog to that of fishes and reptiles. Few experimental studies with these animals have been made, and the material for comparison is therefore very unsatisfactory. E.L. Thorndike[1] has demonstrated the ability of fishes to learn a labyrinth path. In his report no statement of the time required for the formation of habit is made, but from personal observation I feel safe in saying that they did not learn more quickly than did the frogs of these experiments. Norman Triplett[2] states that the perch learns to avoid a glass partition in its aquarium after repeatedly bumping against it. Triplett repeated Moebius' famous experiment, and found that after a half hour's training three times a week for about a month, the perch would not attempt to capture minnows which during the training periods had been placed in the aquarium with the perch, but separated from them by a glass partition. Triplett's observations disprove the often repeated statement that fishes do not have any associative processes, and at the same time they show that the perch, at least, learns rapidly—not so rapidly, it is true, as most animals, but more so in all probability than the amphibia.