Jensen Greg, Alkan Yelda, Muñoz Fabian, Ferrera Vincent P, Terrace Herbert S
Department of Psychology, Columbia University.
Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University.
J Comp Psychol. 2017 Aug;131(3):231-245. doi: 10.1037/com0000065. Epub 2017 Mar 23.
Transitive inference (TI) is a classic learning paradigm for which the relative contributions of experienced rewards and representation-based inference have been debated vigorously, particularly regarding the notion that animals are capable of logic and reasoning. Rhesus macaque subjects and human participants performed a TI task in which, prior to learning a 7-item list (ABCDEFG), a block of trials presented exclusively the pair FG. Contrary to the expectation of associative models, the high prior rate of reward for F did not disrupt subsequent learning of the entire list. Monkeys (who each completed many sessions with novel stimuli) learned to anticipate that novel stimuli should be preferred over F. We interpret this as evidence of a task representation of TI that generalizes beyond learning about specific stimuli. Humans (who were task-naïve) showed a transitory bias to F when it was paired with novel stimuli, but very rapidly unlearned that bias. Performance with respect to the remaining stimuli was consistent with past reports of TI in both species. These results are difficult to reconcile with any account that assigns the strength of association between individual stimuli and rewards. Instead, they support sophisticated cognitive processes in both species, albeit with some species differences. (PsycINFO Database Record
传递性推理（TI）是一种经典的学习范式，对于经验性奖励和基于表征的推理的相对贡献一直存在激烈争论，特别是关于动物是否具备逻辑和推理能力这一观点。恒河猴和人类参与者进行了一项TI任务，在学习一个包含7个项目的列表（ABCDEFG）之前，有一组试验专门呈现了FG这一对。与联想模型的预期相反，F的高奖励先验率并未干扰后续对整个列表的学习。猴子（每只都用新刺激完成了许多轮实验）学会了预期新刺激应比F更受青睐。我们将此解释为TI任务表征的证据，这种表征超越了对特定刺激的学习。人类（对任务不熟悉）在F与新刺激配对时对F表现出短暂的偏好，但很快就消除了这种偏好。在其余刺激方面的表现与过去关于这两个物种TI的报告一致。这些结果很难与任何将单个刺激与奖励之间的关联强度作为依据的解释相协调。相反，它们支持了两个物种中复杂的认知过程，尽管存在一些物种差异。（《心理学文摘数据库记录》 ）
