Animal intelligence: Experimental studiesThorndike, Edward L. (Edward Lee)
Science
Animal intelligence: Experimental studies
Thorndike, Edward L. (Edward Lee)
Animal intelligence; Psychology, Comparative
G was a box 29 × 20½ × 22½, with a door 29 × 12 hinged on the left side
of the box (looking from within), and kept closed by an ordinary thumb
latch placed 15 inches from the floor. The remainder of the front of the
box was closed in by wooden bars. The door was a wooden frame covered
with screening. It was _not_ arranged so as to open as soon as the latch
was lifted, but required a force of 400 grams, even when applied to the
best advantage. The bar of the thumb latch, moreover, would fall back
into place again unless the door were pushed out at least a little. The
top of this box was not of bars or screening, but solid. We may call G
‘_Thumb latch_.’
H was, except for the opening where the door was situated, a perfectly
solid and dark box. In the front was cut an opening about 9 × 7 inches.
A wooden frame covered with wire netting hung in front of this. It was
fastened to the box only by a screw through the middle of the frame’s
top piece, and could therefore be pushed to either side so as to permit
escape from the box if it were prevented from swinging back into place.
I was a box 12 × 14 × 23. The door was 8 inches wide, 4 high, and hinged
at the left side. It was held closed by a wooden bar which moved easily
on a pivot and which could be pushed up by another bar which projected
5 inches into the box. This second bar was pivoted so that downward
pressure on it pushed the first bar up and let the door swing open. The
second bar entered the box at a point 4 inches above the floor and 2½
inches in from the right side of the box. In its normal position its
inner end was 5½ inches above the floor. A depression of 2 inches at that
end was necessary to open the door. Of course, nearer the pivot a shorter
depression would do. The front of the box was closed by bars, but the
rest by solid boards. We may call I ‘_Lever_.’
J was the same as B except that the door was not opened by a weight as
soon as the bolt was pulled up. On the contrary, the door was held closed
by a small piece of board (4 × 3½ × ¾ thick) placed against it outside.
After pulling the loop at the back the cat had to knock down this support
and push the door open. We may call J ‘_Double_.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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