Dr. bryan is conducting a memory experiment. one group of participants has to decide whether each of a list of words begins with the same letter as a target word, whereas another group has to determine whether each of a list of words is a synonym or an antonym of a target word. later, all participants are asked to recall the list words. according to the approach, the synonym/antonym group should outperform the initial-letter group.

In e. c. tolman's experiment, some rats were trained to run through mazes for standard food goals, while other rats were allowed to explore the mazes for 10 days without food goals or other rewards. later, when food rewards were placed in a box at the far end of the maze, the previously unrewarded rats reached the food box as quickly as the rewarded rats after only one or two trials. this experiment demonstrated that the rats had the ability to form of their surroundings.