Wright Anthony A
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston McGovern Medical School.
J Exp Anal Behav. 2018 Jan;109(1):87-100. doi: 10.1002/jeab.299. Epub 2018 Jan 2.
This article describes an approach for assessing and comparing complex cognition in rhesus monkeys and pigeons by training them in a sequence of synergistic tasks, each yielding a whole function for enhanced comparisons. These species were trained in similar same/different tasks with expanding training sets (8, 16, 32, 64, 128 … 1024 pictures) followed by novel-stimulus transfer eventually resulting in full abstract-concept learning. Concept-learning functions revealed better rhesus transfer throughout and full concept learning at the 128 set, versus pigeons at the 256 set. They were then tested in delayed same/different tasks for proactive interference by inserting occasional tests within trial-unique sessions where the test stimulus matched a previous sample stimulus (1, 2, 4, 8, 16 trials prior). Proactive-interference functions revealed time-based interference for pigeons (1, 10 s delays), but event-based interference for rhesus (no effect of 1, 10, 20 s delays). They were then tested in list-memory tasks by expanding the sample to four samples in trial-unique sessions (minimizing proactive interference). The four-item, list-memory functions revealed strong recency memory at short delays, gradually changing to strong primacy memory at long delays over 30 s for rhesus, and 10 s for pigeons. Other species comparisons and future directions are discussed.
本文描述了一种通过让恒河猴和鸽子完成一系列协同任务来评估和比较其复杂认知的方法，每个任务都能产生一个完整的功能以促进比较。对这些物种进行了类似的相同/不同任务训练，训练集不断扩大（8、16、32、64、128……1024张图片），随后进行新刺激转移，最终实现完全抽象概念学习。概念学习功能显示，恒河猴在整个过程中的转移效果更好，在128组时实现了完全概念学习，而鸽子在256组时才实现。然后，在延迟相同/不同任务中对它们进行测试，通过在试验独特的会话中偶尔插入测试来评估前摄干扰，其中测试刺激与先前的样本刺激匹配（提前1、2、4、8、16次试验）。前摄干扰功能显示，鸽子存在基于时间的干扰（延迟1、10秒），而恒河猴存在基于事件的干扰（延迟1、10、20秒无影响）。然后，在试验独特的会话中将样本扩展到四个样本，对它们进行列表记忆任务测试（尽量减少前摄干扰）。四项列表记忆功能显示，恒河猴在短延迟时有强烈的近因记忆，在超过30秒的长延迟时逐渐转变为强烈的首因记忆，而鸽子在10秒时就出现这种转变。文中还讨论了其他物种的比较及未来研究方向。
