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
In marked contrast with this behavior on the part of the mouse under
conditions which do not permit it to choose correctly is that of the
animal which has learned what is expected of it. The latter, far from
holding back or fighting against the conditions which urge it forward, is
so eager to make the trip that it sometimes has to be forced to wait while
the experimenter records the results of the tests. There is evidence of
delight in the freedom of movement and in the variety of activity which
the experiment furnishes. The thoroughly trained dancer runs into _B_
almost as soon as it has been placed in _A_ by the experimenter; it
chooses the right entrance by one of the three methods described above,
immediately, or after whirling about a few times in _B_; it runs through
_E_ and back to _A_ as quickly as it can, and almost before the
experimenter has had time to record the result of the choice it is again
in _B_ ready for another choice.
CHAPTER IX
THE SENSE OF SIGHT: COLOR VISION
Is the dancing mouse able to discriminate colors as we do? Does it possess
anything which may properly be called color vision? If so, what is the
nature of its ability in this sense field? Early in my study of the mice I
attempted to answer these and similar questions, for the fact that they
are completely deaf during the whole or the greater part of their lives
suggested to me the query, are they otherwise defective in sense
equipment? In the following account of my study of color vision, I shall
describe the evolution of my methods in addition to stating the results
which were obtained and the conclusions to which they led me. For in this
case the development of a method of research is quite as interesting as
the facts which the method in its various stages of evolution revealed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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