From the results of table 2, several peculiarly interesting facts appear.  In the first place the influence of the habit of choosing the first box at the left disappears with surprising suddenness, and in the second place, there are remarkable contrasts in the results for different settings as they appear in their respective vertical columns.  Thus, in the case of setting 1, after the first trial mistakes became relatively infrequent, whereas in setting 6, which involved the same number of doors, mistakes continued to be the rule until nearly a thousand trials had been given.  The most likely explanation of this difference is that for some reason the animal avoided box 9.

The reactive tendencies, or better, the methods of reaction which manifested themselves during this long series of observations may be described as follows:  (a) choice of the first box at the left; (b) random choice with tendency to choose first, a box near the middle of the group; (c) choice of first box at the right followed by the one next to it on the left; (d) direct choice of the right box.

TABLE 2

Results for Skirrl, P. irus, in Problem 2

========+===========+==============+==============+====

==========+==============+==============+==============+==============+==============+==============+==============+===+===+===+===+========
|    No.    |     S.1      |     S.2      |     S.3      |     S.4      |     S.5      |     S.6      |     S.7      |     S.8      |     S.9      |     S.10     |   |   |   |   | Ratio
Date  |    of     |              |              |              |              |              |              |              |  1.2.3.4.5   |              |              | R | W | R | W |   of
|  trials   |    7.8.9     |   1.2.3.4    | 2.3.4.5.6.7  | 1.2.3.4.5.6  |  4.5.6.7.8   |    1.2.3     |   2.3.4.5    |   6.7.8.9    |   1.2.3.4    | 3.4.5.6.7.8  |   |   |   |   | R to W
--------+-----------+--------------+--------------+---------

-----+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+---+---+---+---+--------
May   |           |              |              |              |              |              |              |              |              |              |              |   |   |   |   |
11&13  |    1-   9 | 7.7.9.7.8    | {1.2.2.1.4.1 | {2.3.2.3.2.5 | {4.6.1.4.1.1 | 4.4.7        | 3.1.2        | 4            | 4.1.8        | 1            |              | 1 | 8 | 1 | 8 | 1:  8.00
|           |              | {2.1.2.1.3   | {2.3.2.5.6   | {2.6.1.6.5   |              |              |              |              |              |              |   |   |   |   |
|           |              |              |              |              |              |              |              |              |              |              |   |   |   |   |
24   |   11-  20 | 8*[1]        | 2.4.3*       | 4.5.6*       | 2.2.5*       | 5.6.6.7*     | 3.1.2        | {5.2.3.5.3.2 | 4.6.8*       | 4.4.3*       | 5.5.6.7*     | 0 |10 | 0 |10 | 0:10.00