ABSTRACT
The famous experiments of E. L. Thorndike on animal behavior included an attempt to answer a question as to whether or not animals can learn a specific motor task solely by observing an animal demonstrator performing the task. Several investigators studied a special case of animal behavior when the animal is following a companion to a goal. In experiments of Miller and J. Dollard, rats were trained to follow a leader rat in a T-maze. Several other investigators also studied the problem of learning by following the leader. Solomon and M.R. Coles demonstrated that 97 percent of their experimental rats learned to imitate a leader in a T-maze for food. V. E. Stimbert et al. demonstrated that rats also learned to follow a leader when experiments were conducted in an “open-field” situation with the use of an apparatus which increased the number of choice-point alternatives.
