Department of Psychology and Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Center for Childhood Deafness, Language, and Learning, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, NE, USA.
Learn Behav. 2022 Jun;50(2):242-253. doi: 10.3758/s13420-021-00485-2. Epub 2021 Sep 28.
There is ample evidence that humans and nonhuman animals can learn complex statistical regularities presented within various types of input. However, humans outperform their nonhuman primate counterparts when it comes to recognizing relationships that exist across one or several intervening stimuli (nonadjacent dependencies). This is especially true when the two elements in the dependency do not share any perceptual similarity (arbitrary associations). In the present study, we investigated whether manipulating the saliency of the predictive stimulus would enhance nonadjacent dependency learning in nonhuman primates. Rhesus macaques and tufted capuchins engaged in a computerized signal detection task that included sequences that were random in nature, included an adjacent dependency, or included a nonadjacent dependency. We manipulated the saliency of the predictive stimulus, such that the predictor jittered in place on the screen in some grammar blocks, as well as the transitional probability (the likelihood of the stimulus preceding the target to accurately predict the target's appearance) from block to block. Some monkeys evidenced learning of adjacent dependencies by faster response times to targets that followed a predictive stimulus compared to targets that were not preceded by a predictor. However, consistent with the body of evidence that indicates that nonhuman animals' statistical learning mechanisms are not at the same level of sophistication as humans', there was no evidence that monkeys learned nonadjacent dependencies of arbitrary associations, even when the salient cue was present.
有充分的证据表明，人类和非人类动物都可以学习各种类型的输入中呈现的复杂统计规律。然而，当涉及到识别跨越一个或多个中间刺激物（非相邻依赖）存在的关系时，人类比他们的灵长类动物表现得更好。当依赖关系中的两个元素没有任何感知相似性（任意关联）时，尤其如此。在本研究中，我们调查了操纵预测刺激的显著性是否会增强非灵长类动物的非相邻依赖学习。恒河猴和卷尾猴参与了一项计算机化的信号检测任务，其中包括随机序列、包含相邻依赖关系或包含非相邻依赖关系的序列。我们操纵了预测刺激的显著性，使得在某些语法块中，预测器在屏幕上晃动，以及从一个块到另一个块的过渡概率（预测器之前的刺激准确预测目标出现的可能性）。一些猴子通过更快的反应时间来证明对跟随预测器的目标的相邻依赖关系的学习，而不是对没有预测器的目标的反应时间更快。然而，与表明非人类动物的统计学习机制不如人类的机制复杂的证据一致，即使存在显著的线索，也没有证据表明猴子学习了任意关联的非相邻依赖关系。
