Abstract
Two rhesus monkeys learned the auditory abstract concept ofsame/different. They were trained with 38 different environmental and natural sounds, which were arranged in different combinations as training progressed. Upon transfer to 138 different novel stimuli, they performed as well (78.8% correct) on the first exposure to the novel stimuli as they did (77.3%) with their training stimuli. The comparatively large set of training sounds, contact with the sound source, and a special fading procedure are thought to have contributed to the monkeys’ being able to learn this concept. Implications for species’ similarities/differences in cognitive processing are discussed.
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Portions of this research were supported by NIMH Grants MH35202 and MH42881 to the first author.
M. Jitsumori, who was visiting on sabbatical leave during the course of this research, is at Chiba University, Japan. Robert G. Cook was offered authorship on this article but graciously declined.
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Wright, A.A., Shyan, M.R. & Jitsumori, M. Auditorysame/different concept learning by monkeys. Animal Learning & Behavior 18, 287–294 (1990). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205288
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205288