MAZE LEARNING

INTRODUCTION
The process by which experience or practice results in relative change in behaviour is called
Learning. Learning can occur through various methods, one of which was given by
Thorndike and his Law of Effect.

Thorndike’s Law of Effect says that in any condition, responses which produce a pleasurable
outcome are more likely to be repeated and responses which produce a discomforting or
distressing outcome are more likely to be avoided. This results in integrating the correct
responses and the wrong responses being eliminated. This type of learning is referred to as
‘Trial and error learning’ where each trial should, ideally, result in improvement in
performance or responses. The correct responses increase and The wrong choices are
eliminated thus decreasing chance solutions in experiments. Thorndike concluded that all
animals learn through Trial and Error. To counter this, Kohler conducted an experiment with
a chimpanzee. In this experiment, he found that the chimpanzee was able to use the
environment around it to get a banana just out of hand’s reach. More importantly, this did not
take multiple trials but rather, it seemed that the chimpanzee was able to learn with a sudden
idea. The chimp was able to solve the problem by just perceiving the things needed for it to
achieve its goal. This type of learning which occurs through insight was referred to as
‘Insight Learning’. Instead of the gradual reduction in time seen and expected in Trial and
Error Learning. In Insight Learning the time and errors will decrease significantly as insight
occurs.

AIM
To study the difference between Trial and Error Learning and Learning by Insight

HYPOTHESIS
1.​Systematic arrangement of the path leads to Insight.
2.​ Random arrangement of path leads to the gradual reduction in time and error
scores, thereby showing trial and error learning.
SUBJECT PROFILE

Name: R.W

Age: 19

Gender: Male

Educational Qualification: Undergraduate student

MATERIALS REQUIRED
1)​Mile's Step-Maze with random and systematic paths with error counter and stylus.
2)​Stop Clock
3)​Writing materials

RAPPORT
The subject was seated comfortably in a room with good lighting and ventilation. It was
ensured that the subject was not experiencing any discomfort. Questions about how their
day went were asked to make them less anxious. A brief description about the
experiment was given to the subject along with instructions on how to perform the task.
Consent to conduct the experiment was taken from the subject before proceeding with
the experiment.

PROCEDURE
Connect the step maze in such a way that the counter clicks/the buzzer sounds when a wrong
screw-head is touched. Path 'A' is for the systematic series, where the path is arranged in a
specific order, whereas Path ‘B’ is for random series where the path is not arranged in a
definite pattern. The starting point is marked 'S' and the goal 'G' for both the paths.

Series 1-Systematic Path: Point out the starting point and the goal of Path 'A' to the subject
and instruct the subject to trace the path from 'S' to 'G' touching the correct screw heads Tell
him/her to not skip any screw heads; make right, left, forward, or backward movements but
not diagonal movements. Tell him/her that when a wrong screw head is touched, a sound is
heard and he/she has to go back to the previous correct step and proceed from there. With
these instructions, give a signal ‘start’, start the stop-clock simultaneously. Note down the
time taken and errors committed. Give 5 such trials
Series 2 - Random Path : Following the same procedure, ask the subject to trace path 'B'. Five
trials are given.

INSTRUCTIONS
"With the signal "start" start tracing the path by touching the screw heads with the stylus.
Whenever you touch a wrong screw head, you will hear a sound, come back to the preceding
correct screw head and proceed again until you reach the goal. While moving do not skip any
screw heads You can make right or left, forward or backward movements, but not diagonal
movements"

CONTROL/PRECAUTIONS
1.​Do not let the Subject know that the maze has a random path and a systematic path
2.​Demonstrate to ensure that the Subject has understood the task.

INTROSPECTIVE REPORT-

The experiment was fun and enjoyable, making it a good experience. The student gave clear
instructions and explained everything well. Looking forward to more

OBSERVERS REPORT-

Individual was cooperative and the experiment was fruitful.

OBSERVATION:
Discussion and Interpretation:

The aim of this experiment was to measure the difference between Learning by Insight and
Trial and Error Learning by comparing performance on systematic and random maze paths.
Under the systematic condition, the clear and consistent instructions allowed the subject to
develop an internal representation of the maze very rapidly, resulting in a sharp decrease in
both completion time and error scores—a hallmark of insight learning. Under the random
condition, however, where no easily perceived pattern was provided, improvement for the
subject was incremental, with errors and completion times decreasing incrementally with each
successive trial, as Thorndike's Law of Effect would predict. These results indicate that
environmental structure plays a significant role in determining cognitive processes; while
structured cues can facilitate an immediate insight towards effective problem-solving,
unstructured settings necessitate repeated trials and corrective feedback for incremental
learning. Overall, the results indicate the importance of systematic arrangement in promoting
rapid insight, while random arrangements facilitate a slow, iterative process of learning.

Conclusion:

The experiment is able to successfully demonstrate the size effect on weight perception in
support of the Size-Weight Illusion.. The findings favor the first hypothesis, in which the size
of the object determines the judgment of weight, with resultant consistent errors of perception.
The second hypothesis, which had predicted that greater objects would be perceived as being
heavier, was falsified. Rather, findings favor the general psychological theory that smaller
objects are perceived to be heavier than they are, while larger objects are perceived to be
lighter. The findings highlight the role of cognitive expectations and perceptual processing in
weight estimation and give us insight into how sensory integration influences human
perception.

References:
●​ Sharma, V. (n.d.). Human Maze: To study the learning process of human maze by trial

and error method [Practical]. General Psychology.

https://www.mlsu.ac.in/econtents/2420_practical%201%20Human%20maze.pdf

●​ Shaikh, W. (2025, February 22). Maze Learning Psychology Experiment - BA first

year Psychology practicals - Lucknow University | EduCatn. EduCatn.

https://www.geteducatn.com/2022/10/maze-learning-psychology-experiment-ba.html

●​ https://gwern.net/doc/psychology/animal/maze/1935-maier-principlesofanimalpsychol

ogy-ch17-theanalysisofmazelearning.pdf