Monkeys choose, but do not learn, through exclusion

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Robert Hampton, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2018-02-01
• Publisher: Unicus
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: ©Attribution
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
• Final Published Version (URL): https://doi.org/10.26451%2Fabc.05.01.02.2018
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Animal Behavior and Cognition
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 1
• Start Page: 9
• End Page: 18
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health Grant No. R01MH082819 and the National Science Foundation grants IOS-1146316, BCS-0745573; BCS-1632477. Additional support was provided by the Yerkes Center base grant No. RR-00165 awarded by the Animal Resources Program of the National Institutes of Health, and the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience under the STC Program of the National Science Foundation under Agreement No. IBN-9876754.
• Keywords: choice by exclusion; primate; fast mapping; word learning
• Research Categories: Psychology, Cognitive; Biology, Neuroscience

Abstract

Human children will select a novel object from among a group of known objects when presented with a novel object name. This disambiguation by exclusion may facilitate new name-object mappings and may play a role in the rapid word learning shown by young children. Animals including dogs, apes, monkeys, and birds make similar exclusion choices. However, evidence regarding whether children and nonhuman animals learn new associations through choice by exclusion is mixed. In the present study we dissociate choice by exclusion from learning by exclusion in rhesus monkeys using a paired-associate task. In experiment 1, monkeys demonstrated choice by exclusion by choosing a novel comparison image from among known comparison images when presented with a novel sample image. In experiment 2, monkeys failed to benefit from choice by exclusion in learning new sets of paired associates. Monkeys learned new sets of four paired associates by trial and error alone or by a combination of exclusion and trial and error. Despite choosing correctly by exclusion on almost 100% of opportunities, monkeys did not learn any faster by exclusion than by trial and error alone. These results indicate that monkeys chose, but do not learn, through exclusion, highlighting the importance of separately evaluating choice and learning in studies of exclusion in word learning.