The Relative Economy of Various Modes of Attack in the Mastery of a Stylus Maze.

Abstract

This investigation was undertaken for the purpose of finding out whether there is any typical mode of attack to the problem of the maze among human subjects, and whether one mode of attack is more economical than another. Sixty subjects took part in the experiment. After each subject had learned the maze he was asked to report whether he had relied chiefly on verbal imagery (i.e., memorizing the direction and order of the turns by attaching verbal symbols to them), visual imagery, or kinesthetic imagery. It turned out that over 40 per cent of the subjects depended primarily upon either explicit or implicit verbalization, while less than 30 per cent reported the use of the motor mode of attack. Thirty per cent relied on visual schemas of some sort. Verbalization proved to be by far the most economical method, requiring on the average less than one-fourth as many trials as the motor reaction, and approximately one-half as many trials as the visual method. The reports of those subjects who relied on kinesthesis gave evidence of disturbing factors which were not present in the verbal method. As part of the experiment the subjects were given the Alpha and Thorndike tests. In the case of 40 subjects there was found a significant positive correlation between the records in maze learning and the scores in the mental tests. The scores in the mental tests for the word reaction group were over 11 per cent higher than those for the motor reaction group. From Psych Bulletin 22:05:00414. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)