Simple discrimination by exclusion in infant capuchin monkeys.

Abstract

Learning by exclusion in capuchin monkeys is reported. Two infant female capuchin monkeys were tested for control of choices by exclusion and by novelty and for incorporation of novel stimuli into functional classes after establishment of a robust baseline for exclusion in a 2-choice simultaneous simple discrimination task including 4 positive and 4 negative stimuli. Control by exclusion was assessed by substituting novel stimuli for familiar baseline positive stimuli, resulting in 16 stimulus pairs of combinations of 4 novel stimuli and 4 negative stimuli. Control by novelty was assessed by replacing new stimuli for baseline negative stimuli while maintaining the positive stimuli from the exclusion phase. Finally, the learning of new simple discriminations by exclusion was assessed by replacing novel stimuli with the 4 familiar negative stimuli used in the previous exclusion test. Both subjects demonstrated control by exclusion but not by novelty. One subject learned new stimulus functions without errors after exposure to very few training trials in the exclusion context, consistent with the “fast mapping” phenomenon.

This or not that: select and reject control of relational responding in rats using a blank comparison procedure with odor stimuli

“…There has been interest in developing variations of the blank comparison procedure in nonhumans—particularly to address the question of whether nonhumans are capable of learning through exclusion (the selection of a correct alternative by elimination of the other incorrect alternatives). While there are a number of demonstrations of exclusion across a broad range of nonhuman species including chimpanzees (Beran and Washburn 2002 ), capuchin monkeys (Goulart et al 2005 ; Jiménez et al 2017 ), California sealions (Kastak & Schusterman, 2002 ; Biolsi and Woo 2022 for a review), dogs (Aust et al 2008 ; Kaminski et al 2004 ; Pilley & Reid, 2011 ; Zaine et al 2016 ), rats (de Souza and Schmidt 2014 ), pigeons (Clement and Zentall 2003 ), keas (O’Hara et al 2016 ) and bees (Scienza et al 2019 ), most of these studies did not use the blank comparison procedure. Rather, they trained subjects on simple or conditional discriminations and then demonstrated exclusion by selection of a novel stimulus when paired with an S- on a trial.…”

Effective use of the blank comparison procedure in simple discrimination by infant capuchin monkeys: A methodological note

“…Discrimination procedures that present two or more simultaneously available choice stimuli to be compared (i.e., comparison stimuli) have proven broadly useful in investigating complex behavioral processes, such as the formation of concepts (Von Fersen & Lea, 1990) and equivalence classes (Travis et al, 2014; Wilkinson et al, 2009), remembering (Zentall & Smith, 2016), abstraction (Vonk & MacDonald, 2002), and learning by exclusion (Aust et al, 2008; Jiménez et al, 2017), among others. As typically implemented, however, such procedures present some challenges to the characterization and interpretation of the type of stimulus control relations established after simple or conditional discrimination training.…”