Editing Little Albert experiment (section)

===Douglas Merritte===
In 2009, psychologists Hall P. Beck and Sharman Levinson published an article in which they claimed to have discovered the true identity of "Albert B."<ref name="Beck, Levinson & Irons" /> After reviewing Watson's correspondence and publications, as well as research in public documents (such as the [[1920 United States Census]] and state birth and death records), Beck argued that "Albert B." was a pseudonym for Douglas Merritte, the son of Arvilla Merritte, then a woman who appears to have been a wet nurse at the Harriet Lane Home.<ref name="Beck, Levinson & Irons" />

It was later found that Douglas Merritte had [[hydrocephalus]], from which he died at the age of 6. With this condition, which is an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid on the brain, Merritte may have had severe trouble seeing at the time of the experiment, and this disputes the claim that the child in question was average and healthy.<ref name="Levinson, S. pp.605"/> According to researchers who looked at this case years later, if Douglas Merritte was, indeed, Little Albert, his actions during the conditioning sessions align with signs of neurological impairment.<ref>{{cite web |last1=DeAngelis |first1=T. |title=Was 'Little Albert' ill during the famed conditioning study? |url=https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/03/little-albert |website=www.apa.org |publisher=American Psychological Association |access-date=3 December 2020}}</ref> This includes Little Albert's use of hand-scooping, rather than grasping gestures typical of this age, as well as poor eye-scanning abilities and his lack of facial expressions. Other research has argued, however, that Douglas Merritte may not have been "Little Albert",<ref name="Correcting" /> who may, in fact, have been young Albert Barger (known later as William Albert Martin).<ref name="Correcting" /><ref name="Digdon" />