Boysen S T, Berntson G G
Comparative Cognition Project, Ohio State University, Columbus 43210-1222.
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process. 1995 Jan;21(1):82-6. doi: 10.1037//0097-7403.21.1.82.
Two chimpanzees were trained to select among 2 different amounts of candy (1-6 items). The task was designed so that selection of either array by the active (selector) chimpanzee resulted in that array being given to the passive (observer) animal, with the remaining (nonselected) array going to the selector. Neither animal was able to select consistently the smaller array, which would reap the larger reward. Rather, both animals preferentially selected the larger array, thereby receiving the smaller number of reinforcers. When Arabic numerals were substituted for the food arrays, however, the selector animal evidenced more optimal performance, immediately selecting the smaller numeral and thus receiving the larger reward. These findings suggest that a basic predisposition to respond to the perceptual-motivational features of incentive stimuli can interfere with task performance and that this interference can be overridden when abstract symbols serve as choice stimuli.
训练了两只黑猩猩在两种不同数量的糖果（1 - 6颗）中进行选择。该任务的设计是，主动（选择者）黑猩猩选择任意一组糖果后，这组糖果会给被动（观察者）黑猩猩，而剩下（未被选中）的那组给选择者。两只黑猩猩都不能始终如一地选择数量较少的那组糖果，而选择数量较少的那组本可获得更大的奖励。相反，两只黑猩猩都优先选择数量较多的那组糖果，从而获得较少的强化物。然而，当用阿拉伯数字替代食物组时，选择者黑猩猩表现出更优的表现，立即选择较小的数字从而获得更大的奖励。这些发现表明，对激励刺激的感知 - 动机特征做出反应的基本倾向会干扰任务表现，并且当抽象符号作为选择刺激时，这种干扰可以被克服。
