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Current Numbers: Review or Journal, $1.00; Bulletin, 6oc; Index, $2.00 Current Issues: prices vary according to size. Subscriptions, orders, and business communications may be sent direct to the PRINCETON, N. J. OFFICE PSYCHOLOGICAL REVIEW COMPANY FOREIGN AGENTS: G. E. STECHERT & CO., London (2 Star Yard, Cary St., W.C.), Paris (16, rue de Condé) Exp Journal of Experimental Psychology VOL. IX., No. I FEBRUARY, 1926 ADMINISTERING ELECTRIC SHOCK FOR INACCURACY IN CONTINUOUS MULTIPLECHOICE REACTIONS 1 BY CARL N. REXROAD Ohio State University Since Yerkes made his studies of the effect of administering an electric shock to the dancing mouse for its wrong choices, his procedure has been rather generally adopted by animal investigators. Comparable studies of the effect of shock used as punishment on human beings suggest a field as yet scarcely touched. The investigation here reported was undertaken to determine this effect in one type of human performance. Electric shock becomes punishment when it is used either for slowness or for inaccuracy. Yohanson (1) studied the effect of punishment of this nature for slow reactions in simple reaction-time experiments. He found the average reactiontime to be lowered 16 per cent., a lowering which was 14 times the P.E., when the shock was given. This study is of special significance since the reaction-time was previously considered as approximating the physiological limit. It would be of scientific value to study the effect of shocking for slowness in more complex types of performance. The apparatus and procedure used in this investigation would readily permit such a study. The present investigation was limited, however, after some preliminary experimentation, to a study of the effect of punishment upon inaccuracy. 1 An abstract of the dissertation accepted by the Faculty of Yale University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the doctorate in philosophy. I If a subject is to be punished for inaccuracy, the task set him must obviously involve choice. Five general types of experiment making this sort of a demand on the subject have been employed in psychological laboratories. These are maze experiments (including the pencil type), card-sorting, form-substitution, cancellation, and experiments using an apparatus for multiple-choice reactions. Hansen (2) has recently given an historical resumé of these types of experiment and pointed out their common characteristics. The type employing a special apparatus has the advantage for this investigation since it affords the possibility of delivering automatically the shock. APPARATUS The simple apparatus used extensively since Wundt for measuring discriminative choice (Donders B or C) reactiontime might be employed. Such apparatus must, however, be set for each presentation. This involves a great deal of labor and time lost to the experimenter. Furthermore, the task set by such apparatus obtains only a fluctuating interest and attention from the subject. This would introduce into the experiment an undesirable variable. A continuous multiple-choice apparatus does not have these disadvantages, and is, therefore, most suitable for a study of the effect of punishment for inaccuracy. Various forms of continuous multiple-choice apparatus have been reported; but none was found entirely satisfactory for the present study. One was devised by the writer and reported in this JOURNAL (1925, 8, 325-336). As here used, this apparatus presents five colors, red (R), white (W), green (G), orange (O), and blue (B), in random succession on a small piece of ground glass. The subject's reactions are made by pressing one of five keys of a five-finger keyboard. When the response is correct, the color next in order appears and the reaction is registered on an electrically operated Veeder counter. When the reaction is incorrect, the color remains but registration is made on another Veeder counter. Any key may be made 'correct' for any color. |