Implicit and explicit category learning by capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella).

Implicit and explicit category learning by capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella).

Current theories of human categorization differentiate an explicit, rule-based system of category learning from an implicit system that slowly associates regions of perceptual space with response outputs. The researchers extended this theoretical differentiation to the category learning of New World primates. Four capuchins (Cebus apella) learned categories of circular sine-wave gratings that v...

Face recognition in capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella).

Primates live in complex social groups that necessitate recognition of the individuals with whom they interact. In humans, faces provide a visual means by which to gain information such as identity, allowing us to distinguish between both familiar and unfamiliar individuals. The current study used a computerized oddity task to investigate whether a New World primate, Cebus apella, can discrimin...

Discrimination Reversal Learning in Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus apella)

How capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) quantify objects and substances.

Humans and nonhuman animals appear to share a capacity for nonverbal quantity representations. But what are the limits of these abilities? Results of previous research with human infants suggest that the ontological status of an entity as an object or a substance affects infants' ability to quantify it. We ask whether the same is true for another primate species-the New World monkey Cebus apell...

Preference Transitivity and Symbolic Representation in Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus apella)

BACKGROUND Can non-human animals comprehend and employ symbols? The most convincing empirical evidence comes from language-trained apes, but little is known about this ability in monkeys. Tokens can be regarded as symbols since they are inherently non-valuable objects that acquire an arbitrarily assigned value upon exchange with an experimenter. Recent evidence suggested that capuchin monkeys, ...