Animal Cognition

, Volume 16, Issue 4, pp 611–625 | Cite as

Implicit chaining in cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) with elements equated for probability of reinforcement

  • Charles Locurto
  • Laura Dillon
  • Meaghan Collins
  • Maura Conway
  • Kate Cunningham
Original Paper
First Online:
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:

Abstract

Three experiments examined the implicit learning of sequences under conditions in which the elements comprising a sequence were equated in terms of reinforcement probability. In Experiment 1 cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) experienced a five-element sequence displayed serially on a touch screen in which reinforcement probability was equated across elements at .16 per element. Tamarins demonstrated learning of this sequence with higher latencies during a random test as compared to baseline sequence training. In Experiments 2 and 3, manipulations of the procedure used in the first experiment were undertaken to rule out a confound owing to the fact that the elements in Experiment 1 bore different temporal relations to the intertrial interval (ITI), an inhibitory period. The results of Experiments 2 and 3 indicated that the implicit learning observed in Experiment 1 was not due to temporal proximity between some elements and the inhibitory ITI. The results taken together support two conclusion: First that tamarins engaged in sequence learning whether or not there was contingent reinforcement for learning the sequence, and second that this learning was not due to subtle differences in associative strength between the elements of the sequence.

Keywords

Implicit learning Chaining Cotton-top tamarins Finite state grammar 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by NIH grant R15RR031220.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • Charles Locurto
    • 1
  • Laura Dillon
    • 1
  • Meaghan Collins
    • 1
  • Maura Conway
    • 1
  • Kate Cunningham
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of PsychologyCollege of the Holy CrossWorcesterUSA

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