Research article summary (published 29 Jun 2009):

The psychological organization of "uncertainty" responses and "middle" responses: a dissociation in capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella).

Full Abstract

Some studies of nonhuman animals' metacognitive capacity encourage competing low-level, behavioral descriptions of trial-decline responses by animals in uncertainty-monitoring tasks. To evaluate the force of these behavioral descriptions, the authors presented 6 capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) with 2 density discrimination tasks between sparse and dense stimuli. In one task, difficult trials with stimuli near the middle of the density continuum could be declined through an "uncertainty" response. In the other task, making a "middle" response to the same stimuli was rewarded. In Experiment 1, capuchins essentially did not use the uncertainty response, but they did use the middle response. In Experiment 2, the authors replicated this result with 5 of 6 monkeys while equating the overall pace and reinforcement structure of the 2 tasks, although 1 monkey also showed appropriate use of the uncertainty response. These results challenge a purely associative interpretation of some uncertainty-monitoring performances by monkeys while sharpening the theoretical question concerning the nature of the psychological signal that occasions uncertainty responses.

Author information

Author/s: Beran, Michael J (MJ); Smith, J David (JD); Coutinho, Mariana V C (MV); Couchman, Justin J (JJ); Boomer, Joseph (J);

Affiliation: Language Research Center, Georgia State University, University Plaza, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA. mjberan(-atsign-)yahoo.com

Grants: HD38051 (Agency:NICHD NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Journal: Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes (J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Jul; vol 35 (issue 3) : pp 371-81

Dates: Created 2009/07/14; Completed 2009/09/17;

PMID: 19594282, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 9/17/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Animals Cebus - psychology Color Perception Decision Making Discrimination Learning Female

Male Pattern Recognition, Visual Psychomotor Performance Psychophysics Reinforcement Schedule Uncertainty

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