Capuchin monkeys learn to use information equally well from individual exploration and social demonstration.

ABSTRACT: The limited evidence of complex culture in non-human primates contrasts strikingly with human behaviour. This may be because non-human primates fail to use information acquired socially as effectively as they use information acquired individually. Here, monkeys were trained on a stimulus discrimination task with a win-stay, lose-shift (WSLS) reward structure. In a social learning condition, the experimenter performed an information trial by choosing between the available stimuli; in an individual condition, monkeys made this choice themselves. The monkeys' subsequent test trials displayed the same stimulus array. They were rewarded for repetition of rewarded ('win-stay') and avoidance of unrewarded ('lose-shift') information trial selections. Nine monkeys reached our pre-determined perform

SUBMITTER: Kean D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9950169 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature