Abstract
The present work introduced a task which superimposed a tray brightness, stimulus-response contingency on previously acquired, highly successful, one-trial oddity performance. Continuing with new one-trial oddity problems, the new contingency was that responses to the odd objects were rewarded on a white tray and responses to the nonodd objects were rewarded on the black tray. Since there is no opportunity to learn specific stimuli or stimulus patterns, successful performance may be interpreted as having a conceptual basis. All monkeys achieved criterion (90% based on 18/20) and statistically significant performances (p<.001). Discussion considered the appropriate nomenclature to describe a conceptual conditional discrimination task and the necessary evidence to justify a conceptual interpretation of conditional discrimination behavior.
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Thomas, R.K., Kerr, R.S. Conceptual conditional discrimination inSaimiri sciureus . Animal Learning & Behavior 4, 333–336 (1976). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03214060
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03214060