Available and unavailable decoys in capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.) decision-making.

ABSTRACT: Decision-making has been observed to be systematically affected by decoys, i.e., options that should be irrelevant, either because unavailable or because manifestly inferior to other alternatives, and yet shift preferences towards their target. Decoy effects have been extensively studied both in humans and in several other species; however, evidence in non-human primates remains scant and inconclusive. To address this gap, this study investigates how choices in capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.) are affected by different types of decoys: asymmetrically dominated decoys, i.e., available and unavailable options that are inferior to only one of the other alternatives, and phantom decoys, i.e., unavailable options that are superior to another available alternative. After controlling for the subje

SUBMITTER: Marini M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10884124 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature