Learning set formation in a group of Guinea baboons (Papio papio): Importance of the behavioral variable measured

Abstract

A recent report of one-trial learning in a group of saddle-back tamarins (Saguinus fuscicollis) conflicted with views of learning set formation based on traditional techniques employing isolated subjects. An experiment is reported in which a group of Guinea baboons (Papio papio) was given a series of discrimination and habit reversal tasks. Both one-trial learning and learning set formation occurred. Analysis of spatial behavior revealed that the group learned in a single trial to discriminate stocked from unstocked zones. Improvement in successes (reinforced "digging") was progressive but not rapid, indicating learning set formation. It appears that outcomes depend on the behavioral variables chosen.

Gradual acquisition of visual discrimination tasks in a social group of rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

“…Results of the present study cannot be easily attributed to the arbitrary nature ofthe task, since it shared important features with challenges faced by foraging animals. Unlike Lepoivre and Pallaud (1986), we did not find that choice of dependent variable influenced the pattern of learning observed. In the present study, all variables, including the number of subjects responding, their individual behavior, and their success rate, consistently showed gradual improvement.…”

“…The pattern of gradual improvement reported here is consistent with the pattern of incremental learning described in traditional studies of individual discrimination learning (Fobes & King, 1982;Harlow, 1944Harlow, , 1949); yet, it differs from the pattern of rapid learning reported in group studies (Lepoivre & Pallaud, 1986;Menzel & Juno, 1982;. Thus, discrimination testing of primates under more natural conditions produces both rapid and gradual learning, depending on, as yet, unidentified factors.…”

“…In Menzel and Juno's (1982) task, the cue and the reward were tightly coupled, whereas in the present task, they were not. Alternately, rapid learning by an 8-member family group of marmosets (Menzel & Juno, 1982) and an 11-member baboon group (Lepoivre & Pallaud, 1986), compared with gradual learning by our troop of74 rhesus macaques, may reflect species-specific characteristics oflearning or aspects of social organization. Although differences may simply show that group measures poorly reflect individual performance unless the numbers contributing to those measures are sufficiently large, they may also show that information about the appropriate stimuli disperses less rapidly in larger groups.…”

Use of Stones in a Captive Group of Guinea Baboons (Papio papio)

“…Simultaneous use of a stone by two individuals was never observed, and it is unlikely that simple social facilitation occurred. As in other cases of social influence in learning, stimulus enhancement probably played an important part in the dissemination of the behaviour [3,11]. If imitation is de fined as replication of motor patterns, it would seem to be absent in monkeys [14,15], and there is no reason to suggest imitation in the present case.…”

“…The group was founded in 1980 from a stock of 11 wild-bom individuals imported from Senegal as juveniles [11,12], and trans ferred to the zoo in 1988. At the start of the study, the group contained 33 individuals.…”