Discrimination Reversal Learning in Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus Apella) (original) (raw)

Learning styles in capuchin monkeys were assessed with a computerized reversal-learning task called the mediational paradigm. First, monkeys were trained to respond with 90% accuracy on a two-choice discrimination (A+B-). Then the authors examined differences in performance on three different types of reversal trials (A-B+, A-C+, B+C-), each of which offered differing predictions for performance, depending on whether the monkeys were using associative cues or rule-based strategies. Performance indicated that the monkeys mainly learned to avoid the B stimulus during training, as the A-C+ condition produced the best performance levels. Therefore, negative stimuli showed greater control over responding after reversal and reflected a more associative rather than rule-based form of learning. Reports of cognitive abilities in a variety of animal species have surged in recent years (e.g., Wasserman & Zentall, 2006). Many of these reports emerged from studies with nonhuman primates, and attendant explanations for such abilities center on the large brains, complex social groups, and foraging behaviors of these species (e.g., Byrne & Whiten, 1988; Maestripieri, 2003; Rumbaugh & Washburn, 2003). However, much of what we understand about why organisms behave the way that they do comes from conditioning paradigms designed to assess the role of stimulus-response (S-R) associations between stimuli and the extent to which such processes led to generalized forms of learning (Hull, 1943; Spence, 1937). Thorndike (1911) believed that common associative processes could