Primate Cognition in the Lab Flashcards
What is ecological validity? Why is it important to consider when discussing primate cognition in the lab?
possibility that experiments tap into real life problem solving skills; lab could suggest something when in actuality it is not true
What does “Match to Sample” (MTS) mean?
present sample, then alternatives, pick matching alternatives
What is special about match to sample processing?
all animals do in life, search world for good, good ecological validity
What is “transfer”?
apply learned concept or strategy to novel stimuli, require fewer “trials to criterion”;
“learning to learn”
What is “first trial success”?
after training, full immediate transfer to novel task and/or stimuli w/o additional reinforcement
trained to novel set: success then transfer as good as can get
What helps perceptual integration?
locomotor and object play help; play helps develop sensorimotor skills
What is cross modal mapping?
can do visual-haptic and visual-auditory recognition of stimulus presented in other modality
Who is better at cross modal mapping, apes or monkeys?
apes
What is the Weigl Principle?
can classify same object per different dimensions (color, size, shape, function)
What lab studies have studied how primates represent space and what have they shown about their ability?
primates can learn to navigate a virtual space i.e. some chimps can use toy object placed in 3D model to find real object in actual room, show efficient search abilities
Why would how primates represent space important for their survival?
efficient to never to go twice to the same hiding place in wild, chimp searches efficiently for food, etc.
Which primates are the most frequent tool users in the wild?
cebus (capuchin) and pan troglodytes (Chimp) most frequent tool users
What is object permanence?
ability to know object still exists even though it is hidden; remember location of multiple sties seen baited or not
Do primates exhibit object permanence? How have they exhibited this in the lab?
Yes; put ball in box, primate able to find it
Why is object permanence important for survival?
world = cluttered, animals need to know where things go
What are invisible displacements?
know that something is hidden, can infer that the object is gone even though did not see it go somewhere
i.e. Exp. hides apple at X, pear at Y, distracted, then see Exp eating apple => only look for Y
What are the result of invisible displacement tests?
several apes speies, but only one adult Cebus (of various monkeys tested), pass
What is the trap tube test supposed to test? Is it controversial?
causal reasoning; yes it’s controversial, johnson has serious problems with this