Food and token quantity discrimination in capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella)

Addessi, Elsa; Crescimbene, Lara; Visalberghi, Elisabetta

doi:10.1007/s10071-007-0111-6

Cited by 88 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…A similar phenomenon has been observed previously when the same population of capuchins was tested in two other tasks involving the comparison between a 'real' and a 'symbolic' condition [10,11]. When presented with relative numerousness judgements with food and tokens, capuchins performed better with food than with tokens [9].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Tokens improve capuchin performance in the reverse–reward contingency task

Addessi

Rossi

2010

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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In humans and apes, one of the most adaptive functions of symbols is to inhibit strong behavioural predispositions. However, to our knowledge, no study has yet investigated whether using symbols provides some advantage to non-ape primates. We aimed to trace the evolutionary roots of symbolic competence by examining whether tokens improve performance in the reverse-reward contingency task in capuchin monkeys, which diverged from the human lineage approximately 35 Ma. Eight capuchins chose between: (i) two food quantities, (ii) two quantities of 'low-symbolic distance tokens' (each corresponding to one unit of food), and (iii) two 'high-symbolic distance tokens' (each corresponding to a different amount of food). In all conditions, subjects had to select the smaller quantity to obtain the larger reward. No procedural modifications were employed. Tokens did improve performance: five subjects succeeded with high-symbolic distance tokens, though only one succeeded with food, and none succeeded with low-symbolic distance tokens. Moreover, two of the five subjects transferred the rule to novel token combinations. Learning effects or preference reversals could not account for the successful performance with high-symbolic distance tokens. This is, to our knowledge, the first demonstration that tokens do allow monkeys to inhibit strong behavioural predispositions, as occurs in chimpanzees and children.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Tokens improve capuchin performance in the reverse–reward contingency task

Addessi

Rossi

2010

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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“…Although this is likely to be correct for symbolic mathematical capacity (Carey 2004), recent evidence from clinical neuropsychology suggests a remarkable degree of independence of mathematical cognition from language grammar in human adults ( Varley et al 2005; see also Butterworth et al 2008). Moreover, numerical competences have recently been demonstrated in a variety of species (for mammalian and bird species, see Hauser et al 2000;Hauser & Carey 2003;Lyon 2003;Judge et al 2005;Pepperberg & Gordon 2005;Beran et al 2006;Cantlon & Brannon 2006a,b, 2007Pepperberg 2006;Addessi et al 2008;Rugani et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arithmetic in newborn chicks

et al. 2009

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Newly hatched domestic chicks were reared with five identical objects. On days 3 or 4, chicks underwent free-choice tests in which sets of three and two of the five original objects disappeared (either simultaneously or one by one), each behind one of two opaque identical screens. Chicks spontaneously inspected the screen occluding the larger set (experiment 1). Results were confirmed under conditions controlling for continuous variables (total surface area or contour length; experiment 2). In the third experiment, after the initial disappearance of the two sets (first event, FE), some of the objects were visibly transferred, one by one, from one screen to the other (second event, SE). Thus, computation of a series of subsequent additions or subtractions of elements that appeared and disappeared, one by one, was needed in order to perform the task successfully. Chicks spontaneously chose the screen, hiding the larger number of elements at the end of the SE, irrespective of the directional cues provided by the initial (FE) and final (SE) displacements. Results suggest impressive proto-arithmetic capacities in the young and relatively inexperienced chicks of this precocial species.

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“…There is evidence to suggest that animals are able to make these discriminations when given direct comparisons (e.g. [7,8]); however, it is still not clear whether information of this type, i.e. relative salience/value, can be retained over an extended period of time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term memory of relative reward values

et al. 2017

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Long-term memory can be adaptive as it allows animals to retain information that is crucial for survival, such as the appearance and location of key resources. This is generally examined by comparing choices of stimuli that have value to the animal with those that do not; however, in nature choices are rarely so clear cut. Animals are able to assess the relative value of a resource via direct comparison, but it remains unclear whether they are able to retain this information for a biologically meaningful amount of time. To test this, captive red-footed tortoises (Chelonoidis carbonaria) were first trained to associate visual cues with specific qualities and quantities of food, and their preferences for the different reward values determined. They were then retested after an interval of 18 months. We found that the tortoises were able to retain the information they had learned about the cues as indicators of relative reward values over this interval, demonstrating a memory for the relative quantity and quality of food over an extended period of time. This is likely to impact directly on an animal's foraging decisions, such as the exploitation of seasonally varying resources, with obvious fitness implications for the individual; however, the implications may also extend to the ecological interactions in which the animal is involved, affecting processes such as herbivory and seed dispersal.

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Food and token quantity discrimination in capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella)

Cited by 88 publications

References 46 publications

Tokens improve capuchin performance in the reverse–reward contingency task

Tokens improve capuchin performance in the reverse–reward contingency task

Arithmetic in newborn chicks

Long-term memory of relative reward values

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