An Analogical Paradox for Nonhuman Primates: Bridging the Perceptual-Conceptual Gap

We investigated the role that entropy measures, discriminative cues, and symbolic knowledge play for rhesus monkeys in the acquisition of the concepts of same and different for use in a computerized relational matching-to-sample (RMTS) task. After repeatedly failing to perceive relations between pairs of stimuli in a two-choice discrimination paradigm, monkeys rapidly learned to discriminate between 8-element arrays. Subsequent tests with smaller arrays, however, suggest that, although important for the initial acquisition of the concept, entropy is not a variable on which monkeys are dependent. Not only do monkeys choose a corresponding relational pair in the presence of a cue, but they also choose the cue itself in the presence of the relational pair--in essence, labeling those relations. Subsequent failure in the judgment of relations-between-relations, however, suggests that perhaps a qualitatively different cognitive component exists that prevents monkeys from behaving analogically. Keywords: CONCEPT LEARNING, SAME/DIFFERENT, ANALOGICAL REASONING, MONKEYS, MACACA MULATTA 























































 2 This chapter previously published as: Flemming, T. M., Beran, M. J., & Washburn, D. A. (2007). Disconnect in concept learning by rhesus monkeys: Judgment of relations and relationsbetween-relations. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 33, 55-63.