Animal intelligence: Experimental studiesThorndike, Edward L. (Edward Lee)
Science
Animal intelligence: Experimental studies
Thorndike, Edward L. (Edward Lee)
Animal intelligence; Psychology, Comparative
Box WW (bar inside) was 16 by 14 by 10 inches with a door 4 by 11 at the
left of its front hinged at the bottom. The door could be pushed in or
pulled out when a bar on its inside was lifted out of a latch. The bar
was accessible from the outside through an opening in the front of the
box. It had to be lifted to a height of 1.5 inches (an angle of about
30°).
Box XX (bar outside) was about 13 by 11 by 10 inches with a door 7 by
8 on the left side of the front. The door was held in place by a bar
swinging on a nail at the top, with its other end resting in a latch at
the left side of the box. By pushing this up through an angle of 45° the
door could be opened.
Box YY (push bar) was a box 16 by 8 by 12 inches with a door at the left
of its front. The door was held by a brass bar which swung down in front
of an L-shaped piece of steel fastened to the inside of the door. This
brass bar was hung on a pivot at its center and the other end attached
to a bar of wood; the other end of this bar projected through a hole at
the right side of the box. By pushing this bar in about an inch the door
could be opened.
Box LL (triple; nail plug, hook and bar) was a box 10 by 10 by 13 with a
door 3 by 8.5 at the left side. The door could be opened only after (1) a
nail plug had been removed from a hole in the back of the top of the box
as in TT, (2) a hook in the door had been unhooked, and (3) a bar on the
left side had been turned from a horizontal to a vertical position.
Box Alpha (catch at back) was 11 by 10 by 15 with the door (4 by 4) in
the left side of its front. The door was held by a bolt, which, when let
down, held in a catch on the inside of the door. A string fastened to the
bolt ran across to the back of the box and through a hole to the outside.
There it ended in a piece of wood 2.5 by 1 by .25 inches. When this piece
of wood was pulled, the bolt went up and the door fell open.
Box Beta was the same as NN except in size. It was 10 by 10 by 13 inches.
Box KK (triple; bolt, side plug, and knob) was a box 16 by 9 by 11 with
a door at the left side of the front. The door was held by a bolt on the
right side, a wooden plug stuck through a hole in the box on its left
side and a nail which held in a catch at its top. This nail was fastened
to a wooden knob (1 by 5 by .375) which lay in a depression at the top of
the box. Only when the bolt had been drawn and the plug and knob pulled,
could the door be opened.
Box Gamma (wind) was 10 by 10 by 13 inches with its door held by a wire
fastened at the top and wound three times about a screw eye in the top of
the box. By unwinding the wire the door could be opened.
Box Delta (push back) was 12 by 11 by 10 inches. Its door was held by
a wooden bar projecting from the right two inches in front of it. This
bar was so arranged that it could be pushed or pulled toward the right,
allowing the door to fall open. It could not be swung up or down.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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