The Dancing Mouse: A Study in Animal BehaviorYerkes, Robert Mearns
Science
The Dancing Mouse: A Study in Animal Behavior
Yerkes, Robert Mearns
Animal behavior; Dancing mice
As is shown by the results in Table 28, no combination of brightnesses
rendered correct choice impossible in the case of the blue-red tests which
are now to be described. Choice was extremely difficult at times, even
more so perhaps than the table would lead one to suppose, and it is quite
possible that color played no part in the discrimination. But that
brightness difference in the colors was not responsible for whatever
success these mice attained in selecting the right box is proved by the
brightness-without-color series which follows series II of the table.
Neither No. 2 nor No. 205 showed preference for the lighter or the darker
box. At the end of the sixteenth blue-red series, I was convinced that one
of two conclusions must be drawn from the experiment: either the dancers
possess a kind of blue-red vision, or red is of such a value for them that
no brightness of visible green or blue precisely matches it.
The latter possibility was further tested by an experiment whose results
appear in series 17 to 22 inclusive, of Table 28. The conditions of series
17 were a brightness value of 0 in one box (darkness) and in the other red
of a brightness of 3 candle meters. Despite the fact that they had been
perfectly trained in _blue-red tests_ to avoid the red, neither of the
mice seemed able to discriminate the red from the darkness and to avoid
it. This was followed by a series in which the brightness of both the blue
and the red was varied between 3 and 3650 candle meters, with the striking
result that neither mouse made any mistakes. In series 19 red was used
with darkness as in series 17, and again there was a total lack of
discrimination. Series 20 was a repetition of series 18, with practically
the same result. I then attempted to find out, by increasing the
brightness of the red, how great must be its value in order that the
dancers should distinguish it readily from darkness. For the tests of
series 21 it was made 72 candle meters, but discrimination did not clearly
appear. At 1800 candle meters, as is shown in series 22, the red was
sufficiently different in appearance from total darkness to enable No. 205
to discriminate perfectly between the two electric-boxes. For No. 2
discrimination was more difficult, but there was no doubt about his
ability. It would appear from these tests that the dancers had not learned
to avoid red. Therefore we are still confronted with the question, can
they see colors?
TABLE 29
VISUAL CHECK TESTS
With the Electric-boxes Precisely Alike Visually
No. 151 No. 152
SERIES DATE
RIGHT WRONG RIGHT WRONG
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