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Frequently twenty and rarely thirty trials were given on the same day. In such cases the series of settings was simply repeated. The only pause between trials was that necessary for resetting the entrance doors and replenishing the food which served as a reward for success. Skirrl, Pithecus irus Problem 1. First at the Left End
My assistant's observation was, perhaps, misleading in so far as it suggested that idea. It may and probably was purely by accident that the animal used the splinter on the padlock. Skirrl, Pithecus irus Box Stacking Experiment The monkey Skirrl was tested by means of the box stacking experiment much as Julius had been.
Systematic work with the multiple-choice apparatus and method described in the previous section was undertaken early in April with Skirrl, Sobke, and Julius. The results for each of them are now to be presented with such measure of detail as their importance seems to justify. Skirrl had previously been used by Doctor Hamilton in an experimental study of reactive tendencies.
My assistant, who had been charged with the task of installing the locks for the several doors, had used nails instead of screws for attaching staples underneath the floor and had neglected to clinch the nails. Skirrl, in the dim light of the box, doubtless stepped upon one of the nails and inflicted a painful, although not serious, injury upon himself.
There was no doubting the keen satisfaction which the animal took in this form of activity. It is impossible to say that the behavior was not imitative of man, for Skirrl, along with all of the other monkeys, had had abundant opportunity to see carpenters working.
Following the series of control trials of problem 1 given to Skirrl on May 6, a period of four days was allowed during which the animal was merely fed in the boxes each day. This was done in order that he should partially lose the effects of his previous training to choose the first box at the left before being presented with the second problem, the second box from the right.
For setting 2, it is evident that mistakes soon disappeared. Comparison of the data of table 1 indicates that the number of correct first choices is inversely proportional to the number of doors in use, while the number of choices made in a given trial is directly proportional to the number of doors in use. During the first week of work on this problem, Skirrl improved markedly.
The trials were given in rapid succession, and the total time required for this first series of ten trials was thirty-five minutes. Skirrl worked faithfully throughout this interval and exhibited no marked discouragement. When confined in a box he showed uneasiness and dissatisfaction by moving about constantly, shaking the doors, and trying to raise them in order to escape.
Only by holding the bait well toward the right side of his body was it possible to induce him to use the right hand. So far as may be judged from these observations and from others in connection with the experiments, this animal is definitely left-handed. With Skirrl the results are strikingly different.
Skirrl, on the contrary, attended persistently to anything new in the shape of a movable object. He was extremely partial to objects which could be manipulated by him in various ways, and especially to any thing with which he could make a noise. His interest in hammer and nails, saw, locks, etc., seemed never to wane.
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