The Dancing Mouse: A Study in Animal Behavior. Robert Mearns Yerkes
IV
BEHAVIOR: EQUILIBRATION AND DIZZINESS
Muscular coordination—Statements of Cyon and Zoth concerning behavior—Control of movements, orientation, equilibration, movement on inclined surfaces, climbing—The tracks of the dancer—Absence of visual dizziness—Comparison of the behavior of the dancer with that of the common mouse when they are rotated in a cyclostat—Behavior of blinded dancers (Cyon, Alexander and Kreidl, Kishi)—Cyon's two types of dancer—Phenomena of behavior for which structural bases are sought: dance movements; lack of response to sounds; deficiency in equilibrational ability; lack of visual and rotational dizziness.
CHAPTER V
STRUCTURAL PECULIARITIES AND BEHAVIOR
The functions of the ear—Structure of the ear of the dancer as described by Rawitz, by Panse, by Baginsky, by Alexander and Kreidl, and by Kishi—Cyon's theory of the relation of the semicircular canals to space perception—Condition of the auditory organs—Condition of the equilibrational organs—Condition of the sound-transmitting organs—The bearing of the results of anatomical investigations upon the facts of behavior.
CHAPTER VI
THE SENSE OF HEARING
Experiments on hearing in the dancer made by Rawitz, by Panse, by Cyon, by
Alexander and Kreidl, by Zoth, and by Kishi—Hearing and the voice—
Methods of testing sensitiveness to sounds—Results of tests with adults—
Importance of indirect method of experimentation—Results of tests with
young—The period of auditory sensitiveness—Individual differences.
CHAPTER VII
THE SENSE OF SIGHT: BRIGHTNESS VISION
What is known concerning sight in the dancer—Brightness vision and color vision—Methods of testing brightness vision, the visual discrimination apparatus—Motives for discrimination and choice—Punishment versus reward as an incentive in animal experiments—Hunger as an incentive—An electric stimulus as an incentive—Conditions for brightness vision tests—White-black vision—Evidence of preference—Check experiments—Conclusion.
CHAPTER VIII
THE SENSE OF SIGHT: BRIGHTNESS VISION (Continued)
The delicacy of brightness discrimination—Methods of testing the dancer's ability to detect slight differences in brightness—Results of tests with gray papers—Relation of intensity of visual stimuli to the threshold of discrimination—Weber's law apparatus and method of experimentation—Results of Weber's law tests—Practice effects, the training of vision—Description of the behavior of the dancer in the discrimination box experiments—Modes of choice: by affirmation; by negation; by comparison—Evidence of indiscriminable visual conditions.
CHAPTER IX
THE SENSE OF SIGHT: COLOR VISION
Does the dancer see colors?—The food-box method of testing color vision—Waugh's food-box method—Results of tests—Tests by the use of colored papers in the visual discrimination box—Yellow-red vision—Blue-orange vision—Brightness vision versus color vision—Brightness check tests—Green-blue vision—Violet-red vision—Conclusions.
CHAPTER X
THE SENSE OF SIGHT: COLOR VISION (Continued)
The use of color filters—Testing color vision by the use of transmitted light—Green-blue vision—Green-red vision—Blue-red vision—Stimulating value of different portions of the spectrum—Does red appear darker to the dancer than to us?—Conclusions concerning color vision—Structure of the retina of the dancer and its significance.
CHAPTER XI
THE ROLE OF SIGHT IN THE DAILY LIFE OF THE DANCER.
Sight and general behavior—Behavior of blinded dancers—Experimental tests of ability to perceive form—Visual guidance in mazes—Following labyrinth paths in the dark—The relative importance of visual, olfactory, and kinaesthetic stimuli—Conditions for the acquisition of a motor habit—Conditions for the execution of an habitual act.
CHAPTER XII
EDUCABILITY: METHODS OF LEARNING
The modifiability of behavior—Educational value of experimental studies of modifiability—Methods: the problem method; the labyrinth method; the discrimination method—Relation of method to characteristics of animal—Simple test of the docility of the dancer—Lack of imitative tendency—Persistence of useless acts—Manner of profiting by experience—Individual differences in initiative.
CHAPTER XIII
HABIT FORMATION: THE LABYRINTH HABIT
The labyrinth method—Problems—Preliminary tests—Comparison of the behavior of the dancer in a maze with that of the common mouse—Evolution of a labyrinth method—Records of time and records of errors—Simple and effective method of recording the path—Curves of habit formation—Regular and irregular labyrinths—Points for a standard labyrinth—Values and defects of the labyrinth method.
CHAPTER XIV
HABIT FORMATION: THE DISCRIMINATION METHOD
Quantitative versus qualitative results—Motives—Precautions—Preference—Results of systematic habit-forming experiments—Curves of habit formation—Meaning of irregularity in curve—Individual differences—Comparison of curves for discrimination habits with those for labyrinth habits—Averages—The index of modifiability as a measure of docility—Reliability of the index.
CHAPTER XV
THE EFFICIENCY OF TRAINING METHODS
Importance of measuring the efficiency of educational methods—Rapidity of learning and permanency of modifications wrought by training—Results of a study of the efficiency of discrimination methods—Comparison by means of indices of modifiability—Number of tests per series versus number of series—Efficiency as measured by memory tests.
CHAPTER XVI
THE DURATION OF HABITS: MEMORY AND RE-LEARNING
Measures of the permanency of modifications in behavior—The duration of brightness and color discrimination habits—The relation of learning to re-learning—Can a habit which has been lost completely be re-acquired with greater facility than it was originally acquired?—Relation of special training to general efficiency—Does the training in one form of labyrinth aid the dancer in acquiring other labyrinth habits?
CHAPTER XVII
INDIVIDUAL, AGE, AND SEX DIFFERENCES IN BEHAVIOR
Individual peculiarities in sensitiveness, docility, and initiative—The relation of docility to age—The individual result and the average—How averages conceal facts—Sex differences in docility and initiative—Individual differences of motor capacity which seem to indicate varieties—Is the dancer pathological?
CHAPTER XVIII
THE INHERITANCE OF FORMS OF BEHAVIOR
Characteristics of the race—Inheritance of the tendency to whirl in a particular way—Tests of the inheritance of individually acquired forms of behavior.