The Mental Life of Monkeys and Apes - A Study of Ideational Behavior by Robert M. Yerkes
page 69 of 197 (35%)
page 69 of 197 (35%)
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choices being characterized by deliberateness and definite search for
the right box. Uncertainty was plainly indicated, and in this the behavior of the animal differed markedly from that in the concluding series of the regular experiment. It seems safe to conclude from the results of these control series that Sobke has no free idea of the relation of secondness from the right and is chiefly dependent upon memory of the particular settings for cues which lead to correct choice. _Problem 3. Alternately First at Left and First at Right_ For four successive days after the last control series in connection with problem 2, Sobke was merely fed in the apparatus according to previous description (p. 43). He exhibited a wonderfully keen appetite and was well fed during this interval between problems. The method of experimentation chosen for problem 3 in the light of previous experience was that of confining the monkey for a short time, ten to fifteen seconds, in the wrong box, in each of the first ten mistakes for a given trial, and of then aiding him to find the right box by the slight and momentary raising of the exit door. Aid proved necessary in a few of the trials during the first four days. Then he worked independently. As work progressed it was found possible and also desirable to increase the period of confinement, and in the end, sixty seconds proved satisfactory. It was also thought desirable to increase the number of trials per day from a single series during the early days to two or even three series from June 29 on. Often three series could be given in succession without difficulty. During the early trials on this |
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