The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-05-09

Many such observations led the parents
to experiment with their third child in
purely artificial associations. Thus the,
mother began strokirg from four to six
times the ear lobe of the two months old
child just before it received its bottle
AFTER tnls mad been done eight times
four days. the ear-rubbing was followed
by the chlld's stopping it's crying. making
gasp1ng noises and food seeking move
ments. Then. besides thus getting an ex-
pectation of food from this mildly agree
able touch. the experiment was tried of
getting 1T from an unpleasant association
Vinegar was thus given the child to smell
of before the bottle and after twentv-fve
repet1tions 1t learned from this unpleas-
ant smell to expect it's food-thusg reqliir-
ing three times as many repetitions Of an
unpleasant. association as of a pleasant
one.
Many persons may object, along with
even the authors of the above expert
ments on animals. that all these cases are
| not properly reasoning. but are merely
acquired habits thru associations of con-
| tlgulty in time or place. But, aside from
this type of cases continuing on as con :
siderable part of our adult knowledge of
cause and effect, as when a darkening
sky or east wind prompts one to take
ones umbrella, the inseparable continu-
1ty from these cases to undisputed ones
can be easily observed in young children
Thus a month after the above napkin
and bottle case the same child stopped
lcrying and made the same signs of ex-
pectlng her bottle when her dress
! CHANGED in dressing to get caught under
her chin. Here the kind and amount of
! touch from the dress was somewhat diff
| ferent from that of the napkin and vet it
! revived in the child's memory the same
! associated expectation.
/ This beginning of associations by simil-
arity from those of contiguity is shown
more clearly as an. eight months -old child
tried to blow on large bone knitting
! needle whose round end was similar to,
4 tho larger than, the round end of the
whistle which the child had learned thru
i q chance association to blow. The farni-
A liar household experience of burning and
i stoves makes a good eample One touch
4 Of a warm stove was enough for Ia
4 months child to avoid the stove there
i after But the expectation of pain from
i that stove or any similar, stove was soon
i extended to steam pipes and even en-
4 dured In summer. An an altruistic ex-
4 tension If this personal association was
4 when the child whined and said cat
4 burn on seeing the cat rub against the
4 stove. 4 "a. s
i A more com plicat ted case was when a
i 15-months -old boy got his mothers sill
4 yer scamphor bottle for the first time. He
a brought it to her, teased with impatient
4 sounds and pushed it repeatedly to her
q and was not satisfied till the cover was
4 unscrewed. He had never seen this COW
4 er off; but he had played with and had
i the covers off from the zinc ointment bot
I tie, the salts bottle and and the soap dish.
j. tho the two latter did mot screw off. :
81 Thus, in spite of the dissimilarity of size.
[ form and somewhat of colorYin these -four
]. objects, there was evidently enough like
ness in these points and in the hardness
q and GOODNESS. SO that he carried over the
associated memory of the removable, COW
r er from the three experienced articles to