Rhesus monkeys manipulate mental images

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Thomas C. Hassett, Emory University; Victoria K. Lord, Emory University; Robert Hampton, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2022-07-14
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105225
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Cognition
• Volume: 228
• Start Page: 105225
• Grant/Funding Information: We acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation (BCS-1632477; BCS-1946767), and the National Institutes of Health (P51OD011132).
• Keywords: Mental imagery; Nonhuman primate; Mental rotation
• Research Categories: Psychology, Cognitive

Abstract

Humans form mental images and manipulate them in ways that mirror physical transformations of objects. Studies of nonhuman animals will inform our understanding of the evolution and distribution among species of mental imagery. Across three experiments, we found mostly converging evidence that rhesus monkeys formed and rotated mental images. In Experiment 1, monkeys discriminated rotations of sample images from mirror images, and showed longer response latencies with greater rotation as is characteristic of human mental rotation. In Experiment 2 monkeys used a rotation cue that indicated how far to mentally rotate sample images before tests, indicating a precision of better than 30° in discriminating rotations. Experiment 3 yielded mixed evidence on whether the rotation cue shortened decision times as has been found in humans. These results show that rhesus monkeys manipulate mental images.