The Investigation of Mind in Animals |
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ability absence acid acquired action activity adapted afford amphipod animal animal intelligence animal's appears associative memory attention avoiding reaction bees behaviour Bembex birds brightness carrier pigeons cats ceteris paribus chicks cilia comparative completely conditioned reflexes considerable consists crayfish cues degree direction discrimination door electric-box employed error Euglena evidence example experience experimenter explain fact factors failure flagellum given habit Hampton Court maze hive imitatee individual insects instance instinctive imitation intelligence labyrinth latter learning light manifested manner maze mechanism ment modified monkeys motor motor reflex movements Multiple Choice Method nest noddy terns normal object observations once organism Paramecia Paramecium path pecking phenomenon phototaxis physiological pigeons placed position present Protozoa raccoons reflex regards relatively retentiveness rodents rôle salivary similar species Stentor stimulus success suffices tendency tests Thorndike tion trial tropistic various vibrissae visual wasp white rat Yerkes
Popular passages
Page 150 - Whereas the latter were practically unanimous, save in the cases of the very easiest performances, in showing a process of gradual learning by a gradual elimination of unsuccessful movements, and a gradual reinforcement of the successful one, these are unanimous, save in the very hardest, in showing a process of sudden acquisition by a rapid, often apparently instantaneous, abandonment of the unsuccessful movements and a selection of the appropriate one which rivals in suddenness the selections made...
Page 97 - These writers hold that a given amount of practice is necessary to smooth the way for the operation of a native capacity whose efficiency is largely a function of the age of the animal.
Page 180 - WILTBANK, RT : Transfer of training in white rats upon various series of mazes.
Page 149 - ... strengthened and stamped in thereby, and more and more firmly associated with the sense-impression of that box's interior. Accordingly it is sooner and sooner fulfilled. Futile impulses are gradually stamped out. ' The gradual slope of the time-curve, then, shows the absence of reasoning. They represent the wearing smooth of a path in the brain, not the decisions of a rational consciousness.
Page 149 - Our results indicate that the rational status of a group of animals cannot be inferred from the slope of a curve in so far as this slope is dependent upon the number of trials or the relative rate of elimination. They indicate, moreover, that inferences as to intelligent status are legitimate in so far as the slope is determined by the factor of total values eliminated, but that the relation between the abruptness of slope and the degree of rational ability is just the inverse of that assumed by...
Page 100 - ... of such an assumption is very slight. More and more it becomes evident that acquaintance with the position of the home — hive, nest, shell, or cote as the case may be — and the path by which...
Page 167 - It was devised primarily for the purpose of enabling the comparative psychologist to present to any human or infra-human subject, no matter what the age, degree of intelligence, or condition of normality or abnormality, a series of situations increasing in complexity from an extremely simple one to one so intricate that even the most intelligent human subject might spend hours or days in adjusting himself to it.
Page 182 - XXI. I. SHEPHERD, WT Imitation in Raccoons. Amer. Jour, of Psychol. 1911, xxn. 583. WATSON, JB Animal Education. Chicago. 1903. Imitation in Monkeys. Psychol. Bull.
Page 150 - ... is dependent upon the number of trials or the relative rate of elimination. They indicate, moreover, that inferences as to intelligent status are legitimate in so far as the slope is determined by the factor of total values eliminated, but that the relation between the abruptness of slope and the degree of rational ability is just the inverse of that assumed by Thorndike and Hobhouse.