Simple and Complex Bases for the Solution of Various Tests in the Carmichael Elevated-Maze Situation

The non-correction method and the delayed response problem of Blodgett and McCutchan.

“…When animals are allowed to correct their errors, they apparently do not "recog-F, V s, 0 s 2 Fia. 5 nize" two distinct responses. Instead, because both of the possible behavior sequences terminate at the same goal, they can "recognize" only two alternative and hard to distinguish routes to the goal.…”

“…8 This procedure was con-Two experimental sources suggested that this type of training procedure would enable rata to learn to make spatially opposed responses at the same place in the absence of differential cues at that place. 1) Marker and Dolgin (5) in an experiment in which they used a maze quite similar to that used by Blodgett and McCutchan prevented the animals from receiving food on every run "by removing the animal from the maze each time it made an incorrect response, and replacing it at the starting place. .…”

“…Thus, an analysis of the differences between the correction and the non-correction methods seems the essential problem for an understanding of the difference between Blodgett and McCutchan's results and those obtained in Experiment I. 5 'Both Seward (6) and Hull and Spence (3) have investigated the non-correction method and its relation to the correction method in the learning of a simple T-maze. However, both of these discussions are irrelevant to the issue in question.…”

A consideration of some conceptual trends in comparative psychology.

“…That results from original learning tests offer an elusive basis for comparing intelligence is indicated, for instance, by the difficulty Searle (133) experienced in trying to isolate a learning factor in analytical tests with "bright" and "dull" strains of rats. And in the "same" test situation, very different patterns of mastery may appear in initial learning (94). An extrapolation of human intelligence-test theory promises better results.…”