SIX THE MICHIGAN DAILY THURSDAY, JANUARY 6,1955
BETTER THAN RATS?
Maze Tests Human Learning Ability
By GAIL GOLDSTEIN
"Get from the beginning to
the end In the shortest way p0s-
sible" ..i
This was the instruction given
to students participating in an
experiment in which a hutge maze
was constructed In the basement
of Hill Auditorium. The maze was
used to test humans much in the
same manner that rats would be
tested.
For Doctoral Thesis
-Directing and supervising the
experiment, which was conduct-
ed by Joan Morton Kelly for her
doctoral thesis, was Prof. Emer-
itus John F. Shepard of the psy-
chology department. Prof. Shep-
ard designed the maze which was
used to attempt to determine hu-
mans ability in learning to rea-
son compared to that of a rat
when in a similar situation.
The experiments with rats had
been already carried out by Prof.
Shepard.
The first problem was to con-
struct a human walk-through
maze which would parallel as
nearly as possible that used in
rat studies.
Cheesecloth
Thirty-six hundred yards of
flame-proof cheesecloth was used
to ennstruct the maze.
Alleys of the maze were aboute
two feet wide and seven feet high.
The room was kept completely
dark so no direction could be de-
termined. The subjects in the ex-
periment used lights fastened to
their heads with the battery
around their waists as they tried
to find their way through the
maze.
Using this method of lighting,
the subject couldn't see out of the
maze but recorders could keep
track of the movement of the
subject by observing the light
shining through the cloth.
Pre-Acquaintanceship
To attempt to acquaint the sub-
jects with a maze, they first were
shown a training maze. Shepard
designed three of these training
mazes, in which three different
types of alleys were included.
There Were other problems that
the experimenters had to figure
Feikens, Hart
Party Groups
Lieutenant-Governor Philip A.
Hart and John Feikens, chairman
of the Republican State Central
Committee, will be main speakers
at the annual Democratic and Re-
publican Party Days Monday and
Tuesday at the Rackham Bldg.
Open to student representatives
from Michigan colleges and uni-
versities, the event is sponsored by
the Mchigan Citiznshi Cering
Cng sudns in partsan politics.
i Co-pnoso h oiia
cratic and Republicn State Cn
cans and Young Democrats.
"Why I Am a Democrat" will be
the theme of the Democratic Par-
ty Day Monday while Republican
Party Day Tuesday will be cen-
tered around youth expressing it-
self in politics and government.
Programs for both meetings-'will
begin at 10 a.m. with a panel of
State party leaders discussing the
day's theme. Following a luncheon
students will split tnto discussion
groups moderated by a member of
the political science department
and attended by a State party
leader.
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out. Rats get a quality of stimu-
lus from the floor which they are
able to use in distinguishing one
spot from another. Humans do not
have this quality so something
comparable to this had to be de-
termined. Therefore various non-
sense symbols were placed at the
junctions of the alleys.
Thinking Aloud
Results both using these sym-
bols and not using them were de-
termined by recorders. Subjects
were also encouraged to think
out loud about all that occurred
to them as they traveled through
the maze. This was also recorded
so that the reasoning method of
the human could be determined.
The subject was blindfolded be-
fore being led into the room con-
taining the maze which he had
not seen before. After he learned
the m'aze he was also allowed to
freely explore it to definitely or-
ganize it in his mind. He was also
put Into the maze at different
spots Instead of starting from the
beginning to try and find the way
to the end.
Ratipnal Thinking
In this attempt to see whether
a human 'learns by a~ rational
method and uses a plan and takes
advantage of new situations, it
was found that more trials and
errors were necessary for the non-
symbol group to learn the maze.
Three levels were able to be
determined from the experi-
ment. The first of these were the
reasoners who were explorers and
attempted to find out why they
chose the wrong ways through
the maze. .
The second level of behavior
that was determined from these
tests consisted of those who didn't
learn by pattern. These subjects
did not see interrelations and
were lost when the maze was
ehanged.
Relearning
In between these two types
were those who did take the short
cuts but did this by the process
of relearning rather than reason-
ing. These subjects often got lost
when exploring to find short cuts
and were not systematic In their
learning. They were also reluc-
tant to explore and became ster-
eotyped on one path without
knowing why they took it in pref-
erence to the other.
Now stored in boxes until an-
other experiment is attempted,
this first maze experiment was
carried out in 1947-49. Subjects
for the work were students from
Shepard's class in experimental
psychology.
Undetakn b DA Dirctor
By SI SILVER
Marionette production is an
"adult undertaking."
"So we hope for a 'great pro-
ponderance of University stud-
ents in our first group," comment-
ed Richard Trusdell, director of
the Dramatic Arts Center's new
marionette theater.
The first class of 15 will meet
once a week for 15 weeks and
learn marionette production from
the bottom up. The cost of the
course will be $15 per person.
The first thing the class will
have to do, said Trusdell, is to
select a play. Marionettes can be
used in almost any type of plays
except for some modern dramas-.
Tey have been used ineverything
from Greek tragedies to opera.
Sculpture Students
After selecting the play the
production work will begin. There
will be "head and body' modeling
for sculpture students, scenic and
costume design for artists, wood-
work on the settings and the stag-
es, illumination problems for the
electrical engineering student.
Work will also have to be done
on costume sewing, learning of
parts and music. Marionette pro-
duction requires everything that
regular play production does, only
on a smaller scale.
After the production is ready,
Trusdell plans to present it at
various clubs and schools. He
said he hopes that the members of
his first class will continue with
the Dramatic Arts Center, teach-
ing other people the tricks of mar-
lonetting.
Trusdell graduated from the
University in 1939 and is now
employed by a local architectural
fi. He got started working on
marionettes while still in high
school.
Man, Machine
A race between an abacus, a
small oriental counting machine,
an te ver elatuet incomptome-
day and 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. to-
morrow in the exhibit gallery of
the Rackham Bldg. -
Teruyuki Ouchi, Grad., of Tok-
yo, Japan will operate the abacus,
while a national business firm will
furnish a comptometer and skill-
ed operator.
Business machines valued at
more than $75,000 and reflecting
the latest developments in office
equimeint and supplies will be
exhibited today and tomorrow at
the Rackham Bldg.
A typewriter which types auto-
matically from tape after the ori-
ginal story is made and electronic
calculating machines capable of
comparin er ec2,000 eleven-digi
Sponsored by the office man-
agement class of the School of
Business Administration, the ex-
hibit will be held from 7 to 9
p.m. today and 1 to 5 p.m. and 7
to 9 p.m. Friday. Admission is
Living across the street from the
Northwestern campus, he became
connected with a marionette group
at Northwestern.
As a result of shows they were
presenting, Trusdell's group was
asked by a Chicago department
store to give marionette plays for
children in the store during the
Christmas season.
An indirect result of a letter
Trusdell wrote to the Chicago
Opera Company about a mistake
they made resulted in an invita-
tion to organize a group to stage
marionette operas in nearby com-
munities.
Opera Stars
sgsewhile voices of efamous
opera stars were dubbed in. Later
he produced marionette shows at
the World Fair in Chicago.
Trusdell left the marionette
world in 1950 and donated his
stage and marionettes to North-
western and the Detroit Institute
of Arts.
Visitors To Offer
Political Courses
Two visiting 'lecturers will offer
courses in the political science de-
partment during the spring se-
mester.
Prof. Nidamarulu Srinivasan of
indhra University, Waltair, In-
dia, will offer a course on the gov-
ernment and politics of present-
day India. He is the author of -a
book entitled, "Democratic Gov-
ernment of India," and he' has
gritten several articles in pro-.
fessional magazines.
Prof. Malcom C. Moos of Johns
Hopkins University will offer a
proseminar in political behavior
and a seminar in American politi-
cal parties and electoral problems.
Prof. Moos has written 'exten-
sively on national, state and local
government. He has participated
in Baltimore politics and local
newspaper work.
Out-of-State
Scholarship
Wnhen letters go out tomorrow tor
the country, operations will begin
on a new program of scholarship
aid for future out-of-state stu-
dents,
sentative of the MVichigan Aum-
ni Fund, the Alumni Association
and the University Committees on
Budget and Scholarship, a $15,000
gift of the Alumni Fund was al-
located for out-of-state scholar-
ships.
Previous financial aid to stu-
dents outside Michigan has been
considerably smaller than the
funds to state residents.
To Attract More Students
T. Hawley Tapping, General
Secretary of the Alumni Associa-
tion, yesterday termed the pro-
gram a "wonderful thing-an at-
tempt to draw students from all
over the United States, who could-
n't otherwise afford it, to the Uni-
versity."
According to Assistant to the
President Erich A. Walter, the
$15,000 fund is established for use
next year, and will be divided into
15 etaual scholarships. Each will be
given in eight semi-annual in-
stallments of $125, and applied to
students' tuition costs as long as
their renewal is warranted.
Names Submiitted
Explaining scholarship proce-
dures, Walter said names of can-
didates for the aid must be sub-
mitted by out-of-state alumni or
organizations.
Candidates, Walter added, must
be "admissable to the University
with superior high school records
and a strong desire for higher edu-
cation hprp"
Appuczaiuxns tor tne scnoiarsnips
are due April 1, with' winners to
be announced May 16. Procedure
for awarding the sums, Walter
emphasized, will be reviewed next
fall, in the light of this spring's
experience.
Act As Incentive
"We very much hope," he said,
"that some of these scholarships
will act as incentives to alumni
clubs not now active in scholar-
ship programs." Tapping predict-
ed, "Alumni should seize on this
program as an unusually fine op-
portunity."
Dean of Women Deborah Bacon,
citing various scholarships now
given by alumnae groups, called
the out-of-state scholarship pro-
gram "an effort to pull all the
small sparks of alumni enthusiasm
into one steady fire."
Thomas E. Dickinson, assistant
director of the Alumni Fund, said
the scholarships will roughly para-
llel aid now given to Michigan re-
sidents by Regents-Alumni scho-
larships.
Revelli To Direct
SymponyBand
Prof. William D. Revelli, direc-
tor f Unversty bndswil di-
et the first symphony ban con-
cert of the year at 8:30 p.m. to-
morrow in Hill Auditorium.
Included in the program are
compositions by Rossini, Johann
Sebastian Bach, Dr. Edwin Franko
Goldman and John Phillip Sousa.
Scheduled at the time of the
Tenth Annual Midwestern Confer-
ence on School Vocal and Instru-
mental Music to be held here to-
morrow and Saturday, the concert
is open to the general public with-
out charge.
Nuclear Research at BNL
NINE UNIVERSITIES:
NIGHT VIEW OF THE COMPLEX BUILDINGS HOUSING THE BROOKHAVEN REACTOR AND ITS SUPPORTING ELEMENTS
P EACETIME uses ol atomic en-
ergy as well as the effects of
radiation are part of the govern-
ment's science program.
Brookhaven National Labora-
tory, Long Island, New York, is
one of the regional research cen-
ters for fundamental and applied
research in the nuclear sciences
and related subjects. BNLJ is an
integral part of the Atomic Energy
Commission's nationwide pro-
grm
AEC Contract
Like the other national jabora-
tories, Brookhaven is operated by
a private institution under con,
tract with the AEC. The Brook-
haven contractor is Associated
Universities, Inc., consisting of
nine Eastern schools: Columbia,
Cornell, Harvard, Johns Hopkins,
Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
nology, Princeton, Universities of
Pennsylvania and Rochester, and
Yale.
The Brookhaven program has
four objectives: 1. to seek new
knowledge in the nuclear and
other related sciences; 2. to en-
courage appropriate use of its f a-
cilities by qualified scientists of
university, industrial and other
laboratories, primarily in the
Northeast; 3. to assist the AEC in
the solution of specific problems;
and 4. to aid in the training of
scientists and engineers in nuclear
science and technology.
There are nine general divi-
sions or departments at BNL. The
Cosmotron enables scientists for
the first time to duplicate billion-
volt particles found in the outer
atmosphere and controlable in the
laboratory.
Atomic Pile
Then there are the accelerator
development division and the nu-
clear reactor or atomic pile where
uranium atoms split In a contin-
uous chain reaction. In nuclear
engineering, the development and
storability of components for fu-
ture reactors as well as by-pro-
ducts are studied.
Physics, chemistry and biology,
are additional units. Brookhaven
is the first organization to start a
hospital devoted primarily to re-
search in the field of atomic en-
A
A HEAVY MACHINE SHOP INSURES TOP PERFORMANCE FROM RESEARCH EQUIPMENT
U A
ergy. Radiation and radioisotopes
are used to diagnose and treat
disease.
The last division is Health Phy-
sics whose surveyors supervise the
disposal of radioactive waste pro-
ducts, as well as the radiation pro-
tection program of the Laboratory.
as a whole.
Reactor Building
.The reactor and its elements are
situateti on a hill overlooking the
rest of the site, making an impres-
sive sight day or night. The pic-
ture above, taken in winter, shows
especially well the solitude often
present at the wide expanse of
land.
A detail of the south wall of the
reactor as shown below, demon-
strates the precautions that must
be made when working with radio-
active materials.
P HOTO F EAT U RE
Story by HARRY STRAUSS
Pictures Courtesy of
BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY
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