Tests of planning and the Bischof-Köhler hypothesis in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Regina Paxton, Emory University; Robert Hampton, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2009-03
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2008.12.016
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Behavioural Processes
• ISSN: 0376-6357
• Volume: 80
• Issue: 3
• Start Page: 238
• End Page: 246
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported by Yerkes Center base grant No. RR-00165 awarded by the Animal Resources Program of the National Institutes of Health, and by the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience under the STC Program of the National Science Foundation under Agreement No.IBN-9876754.; Hannah Kinkle was supported by the SIRE program of Emory University.
• Research Categories: Psychology, General

Abstract

The Bischof-Köhler hypothesis posits that nonhuman animals cannot plan for future motivational states that differ from a current state. [Naqshbandi, M., Roberts, W.A., 2006. Anticipation of future events in squirrel monkeys Samiri scireus and rats Rattus norvegicus: tests of the Bischof-Köhler hypothesis. J. Comp. Psychol. 120, 345–357] found that two squirrel monkeys that were not thirsty at the time of choice reversed their preference for a larger amount of food when choice of a smaller amount alleviated future thirst. This apparent anticipation of future thirst contradicts the Bischof-Köhler hypothesis. We used the methods described by Naqshbandi and Roberts with rhesus monkey subjects and found that the monkeys did not alter their behavior in anticipation of future thirst. To assess which factors enhance and inhibit the ability to express planning, we then systematically modified the experimental design in four subsequent experiments and found that monkeys that were not thirsty acted to alleviate future thirst only when the delay between their behavior and the contingent outcome was brief. Taken together these results suggest that the inability of rhesus monkeys to display planning resulted from their inability to learn behavior-outcome associations across long-delay intervals as would be expected from traditional accounts of operant learning, rather than from failure to anticipate future motivational states as posited by the Bischof-Köhler hypothesis.