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Long-Term Spatial Memory and Learning Set Formation in Captive Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus libidinosus = Sapajus cay)

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Abstract

Researchers have long suspected that nonhuman primates have long-term spatial memory for locating food. However, few empirical studies have assessed spatial memory for a period longer than 1 day in nonhuman primates in a foraging context. We used a modified version of the radial maze to test long-term memory for periods of 2 days or longer in two groups of Cebus libidinosus = Sapajus cay (N = 10; N = 6) in captivity (environment completely human constructed) and semicaptivity (relatively natural environment with few human-made structures) at La Plata Zoo and Botanical Park, Buenos Aires, Argentina, between 2007 and 2010. The experimental design included a set of three accessible baited feeders interspersed among three nonaccessible baited feeders. We tested monkeys in one initial exposure period, four periods of long-term memory (2 days, 76 days, 76 + 2 days, and 4 months of delay), and one period of inversion of the experimental set location. We used the latter to analyze the monkeys’ abilities to develop learning sets. Captive subjects appeared to remember sites with accessible and nonaccessible food for periods of 2 days, 76 days, and 4 months, and used learning sets to reduce relearning times when exposed to a change in the learned locations. Although semicaptive subjects also appeared to remember sites with accessible and nonaccessible food, their performance was less accurate. We conclude that capuchins used spatial memory to improve their foraging efficiency.

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Acknowledgments

We thank La Plata Zoo and Botanical Park, Buenos Aires, Argentina for granting permission to conduct this study, and the editor-in-chief Joanna Setchell and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on an earlier draft of this article. This work would not have been possible without field assistance from Roberto Alonso, Luis Alonso, Juan Antú Campoamor, Diego Brutti, Ariel González, Verónica Sendra, and Fernando Daniel Tujague and the irreplaceable assistance from Verónica Trapani. Financial support was provided by two dissertation fellowship from the National University of La Plata and the Argentine Research Council (CONICET) to M. P. Tujague.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Biología Subtropical (IBS), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Universidad Nacional de Misiones (UNaM), Bertoni 85 – N3370BFA, Puerto Iguazú, Misiones, Argentina

    María Paula Tujague

  2. Asociación Civil Centro de Investigaciones del Bosque Atlántico (CeIBA), Bertoni 85, N3370BFA, Puerto Iguazú, Misiones, Argentina

    María Paula Tujague

  3. Division of Biological Sciences, The University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, 59812, USA

    Charles H. Janson

  4. Departamento Científico de Etnografía, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, (FCNyM), Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), B1900FWA, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Héctor B. Lahitte

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  1. María Paula Tujague
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  2. Charles H. Janson
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  3. Héctor B. Lahitte
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Correspondence to María Paula Tujague.

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Supporting Information (full output of the generalized linear mixed models for both study groups) is available online. (PDF 332 kb)

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Database supporting results for both studied groups (Cage and Island respectively) is available online. (PDF 429 kb)

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Database supporting results for both studied groups (Cage and Island respectively) is available online. (PDF 256 kb)

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Tujague, M.P., Janson, C.H. & Lahitte, H.B. Long-Term Spatial Memory and Learning Set Formation in Captive Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus libidinosus = Sapajus cay). Int J Primatol 36, 1067–1085 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-015-9878-5

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