Oddity and Dimension-Abstracted Oddity (DAO) in Squirrel Monkeys

Thomas, Roger K.; Frost, Thomas M.

doi:10.2307/1422208

Cited by 64 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 24 publications

(25 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Whether the study by Langworthy and Jennings demonstrated conceptual responding to oddity by rats depends on whether nonconcep~al odor cues were used to locate the reinforcers (see the 10-troduction to Experiment 2). Even so, these two studies involve easier tests of the oddity concept than some that have been performed successfully by primates (see Thomas & Frost, 1983).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among tasks used with nonhumananimals, relative balance appears to have been addressed most clearly in "dimensionabstracted oddity" (DAO) tasks in which the nonodd stimuliare not identical, but do share more propertieswith each other than with the odd stimulus (e.g., Bernstein, 1961;Strong, Drash, & Hedges, 1968;Thomas & Frost, 1983), and in the more abstract versions of samenessdifference tasks (Premack, 1983;Smith, King, Witt, & Rickel, 1975). Although primates perform successfully on such tasks, apparently no attempts have been made to use DAO or the more abstract sameness-difference tasks with nonprimate animals.…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, these and other such studies have been repeatedly criticized on the grounds that their experimental procedures allowed nonconceptual performances (e.g., see critiques by French, 1965;Strong & Hedges, 1966;Thomas & Boyd, 1973;Thomas & Frost, 1983). Furthermore, most of the questionable reports postdate D. R. Meyer and Harlow's (1949) careful consideration of the kind of evidence that is necessary to demonstrate an animal's use of the oddity concept.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Visual and olfactory oddity learning in rats: What evidence is necessary to show conceptual behavior?

Thomas

Noble

1988

Animal Learning & Behavior

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Experiment 1 involved the use of plastic and wooden objects and trial-unique problems. The rats performed successfully on nonconceptual oddity problems given before and after conceptual training, showing that the testing conditions were suitable, but they showed chance performances on the trial-unique problems. Experiment 2 involved the use of olfactory discriminanda. Five pretraining problems and 300 unique five-trial problems were presented. Two of 3 rats performed better than chance on Trial 2 and on Trials 3-5, but all performed at chance levels on Trial 1 throughout. The data suggest that the rats responded to specific odors on Trials 2-5 following the Trial 1 experience, as opposed to responding conceptuallyto the "odd" odor. Had they responded conceptually to odd odors, they should have performed better than chance on Triall. These findings and the general logical argument that they support are considered in the context ofthe numerous inconclusive reports of the use of the oddity concept by nonprimate animals.In the context of the evolution of intelligence, the oddity concept is an important example of relative class con-

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Visual and olfactory oddity learning in rats: What evidence is necessary to show conceptual behavior?

Thomas

Noble

1988

Animal Learning & Behavior

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The suggestion that learning might be slowed by reducing the number of stimulus attributes is supported by the Thomas and Frost (1983) finding that squirrel monkeys learn oddity discriminations more rapidly with two relevant stimulus dimensions compared to one stimulus dimension. Similarly, both old and young dogs perform well on object discrimination tasks in which the discriminanda differ in a number of perceptual attributes including color, shape, size, and form (Head et al 1998).…”

Section: Size Learningmentioning

confidence: 98%

Size and Reversal Learning in the Beagle Dog as a Measure of Executive Function and Inhibitory Control in Aging

Tapp¹,

Siwak²,

Estrada³

et al. 2003

Learn. Mem.

180

140

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Several studies converge on the idea that executive processes age earlier than other cognitive processes. As part of a larger effort to investigate age-related changes in executive processes in the dog, inhibitory control was measured in young, middle-aged, old, and senior dogs using size discrimination learning and reversal procedures. Compared to young and middle-aged dogs, old and senior dogs were impaired on both the initial learning of the size task and the reversal of original reward contingencies. Impaired performance in the two aged groups was characterized as a delay in learning the correct stimulus-reward contingencies and, among the senior dogs in particular, an increase in perseverative responding. These separate patterns of reversal impairments in the old and senior dogs may reflect different rates of aging in subregions of the frontal cortex.Inhibitory control and performance monitoring are critical executive functions of the human brain which show decreased efficiency during normal aging (McDowd and Oseas

show abstract

“…Except for studies using nonhuman primates and one study using pigeons, claims for the use of the oddity concept by other nonhuman animals do not withstand close scrutiny (Thomas & Frost 1983). The issue is whether it was possible that the animal learned associations between the specific odd stimuli and reward or rather responded to oddity conceptually.…”

Section: Overcoming Contextual Variables Negative Results and Macphmentioning

confidence: 99%

Editorial Commentary

1987

Behav Brain Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Recent decades have seen a number of influential attacks on the comparative psychology of learning and intelligence. Two specific charges have been that the use of distantly related species has prevented us from making valid evolutionary inferences and that learning mechanisms are species-specific adaptations to ecological niches and hence not properly comparable between species. It is argued here that work using distantly related species may yield valuable insights into the structure of intelligence and that the question of whether or not learning mechanisms are niche-specific is one which can only be answered by comparative work in "nonnatural" situations. The problems involved in defining and assessing intelligence are discussed. Experimental work has not succeeded in demonstrating differences in intellect among nonhuman vertebrates. Hence the null hypothesis -that there are no differences in intellect among nonhuman vertebrates -should be adopted; the superiority of human intelligence stems from our possessing a species-specific language-acquisition device. One implication of the null hypothesis is that general problem-solving capacity is independent of niche-specific adaptations. A second implication is that problem-solving may involve relatively simple mechanisms; association formation in particular may play a central role in nonhuman intelligence, allowing the successful detection of causal links between events. Causality is a constraint common to all ecological niches.

show abstract

Oddity and Dimension-Abstracted Oddity (DAO) in Squirrel Monkeys

Cited by 64 publications

References 24 publications

Visual and olfactory oddity learning in rats: What evidence is necessary to show conceptual behavior?

Visual and olfactory oddity learning in rats: What evidence is necessary to show conceptual behavior?

Size and Reversal Learning in the Beagle Dog as a Measure of Executive Function and Inhibitory Control in Aging

Editorial Commentary

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About