Flemming Timothy M, Thompson Roger K R, Beran Michael J, Washburn David A
Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302-5010, USA.
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process. 2011 Jul;37(3):353-60. doi: 10.1037/a0022142.
Monkeys, unlike chimpanzees and humans, have a marked difficulty acquiring relational matching-to-sample (RMTS) tasks that likely reflect the cognitive foundation upon which analogical reasoning rests. In the present study, rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) completed a categorical (identity and nonidentity) RMTS task with differential reward (pellet ratio) and/or punishment (timeout ratio) outcomes for correct and incorrect choices. Monkeys in either differential reward-only or punishment-only conditions performed at chance levels. However, the RMTS performance of monkeys experiencing both differential reward and punishment conditions was significantly better than chance. Subsequently when all animals experienced nondifferential outcomes tests, their RMTS performance levels were at chance. These results indicate that combining differential reward and punishment contingencies provide an effective, albeit transitory, scaffolding for monkeys to judge analogical relations-between-relations.
与黑猩猩和人类不同，猴子在获取关系匹配样本（RMTS）任务时存在显著困难，而这种任务可能反映了类比推理所依赖的认知基础。在本研究中，恒河猴（猕猴）完成了一项分类（相同和不同）RMTS任务，对正确和错误选择分别给予不同的奖励（颗粒比例）和/或惩罚（超时比例）结果。仅处于差异奖励或仅惩罚条件下的猴子表现处于随机水平。然而，同时经历差异奖励和惩罚条件的猴子的RMTS表现显著优于随机水平。随后，当所有动物都经历无差异结果测试时，它们的RMTS表现水平处于随机状态。这些结果表明，将差异奖励和惩罚意外情况相结合，为猴子判断关系之间的类比关系提供了一种有效的（尽管是暂时的）支撑。
