Correcting behaviour in mealworms ( Tenebrio) and the rejection of a previous hypothesis

Abstract

1. 1. Tenebrio larvae when forced to make a turn in a maze show a tendency, already observed in other insects, to make a second opposite turn. If not forced to make a turn prior to a choice point, they will proceed straight ahead instead of taking one of the turns there. 2. 2. The frequency of this correcting behaviour increases as the distance from the start to the forced turn increases. 3. 3. The frequency of correcting decreases as the distance from the forced turn to the choice point is increased. This decrease is not a function of the time it takes to traverse that distance. 4. 4. Because of 2 and 3 above I have rejected “reactive inhibition” as an explanation of the behaviour observed. 5. 5. As in boxelder bugs, the tendency to alternate turns is apparently the result of an interaction between events occurring at the forced turn and an excitatory state accumulated prior to the forced turn.