Anticipation as a factor in maze errors

Rats were given 100 trials on mazes having either a rllrlrrl or a rrrrrrrl sequence of turns. Both of these mazes were insoluble within the limits of the experiment. The animals trained on the first sequence made persistent errors at the third and seventh turns. Those trained on the second sequence...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Comparative Psychology 1933-04, Vol.15 (2), p.313-329
Main Author: Spragg, S. D. S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal
Animal Learning
Errors
Mazes
Rats
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Summary:Rats were given 100 trials on mazes having either a rllrlrrl or a rrrrrrrl sequence of turns. Both of these mazes were insoluble within the limits of the experiment. The animals trained on the first sequence made persistent errors at the third and seventh turns. Those trained on the second sequence made persistent errors at the seventh turn. Anticipation of the turn preceding the food box is regarded as the most probable source of the errors. These "anticipatory" errors were less frequent as the unit was more remote from the food box (in the second sequence), thus suggesting the influence of a goal gradient. Bibliography.
ISSN:0093-4127
0021-9940
0735-7036
1939-2087
DOI:10.1037/h0070611