AR-News: Breakthrough: Monkeys smarter than children

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Fromprimfocus at waste.org

Anim Cogn. 2004 Apr;7(2):101-8. Epub 2003 Oct 07.


Comparative and categorical spatial judgments in the monkey: "high" and
"low".

Fortes AF, Merchant H, Georgopoulos AP.

Brain Sciences Center (11B), Veterans Affairs Medical Center, One Veterans
Drive, 55417, Minneapolis, MN, USA.

Adult human subjects can classify the height of an object as belonging to
either of the "high" or "low" categories by utilizing an abstract concept of
midline that divides the vertical dimension into two halves. Children lack
this abstract concept of midline, do not have a sense that these categories
are directional opposites, and their categorical and comparative usages of
high(er) or low(er) are restricted to the corresponding poles. We
investigated the abilities of a rhesus monkey to perform categorical
judgments in space. We were also interested in the presence of the congruity
effect (a decrease in response time when the objects compared are closer to
the category pole) in the monkey. The presence of this phenomenon in the
monkey would allow us to relate the behavior of the animal to the two major
competing hypotheses that have been suggested to explain the congruity
effect in humans: the analog and semantic models. The monkey was trained in
delayed match-to-sample tasks in which it had to categorize objects as
belonging to either a high or low category. The monkey was able to generate
an abstract notion of midline in a fashion similar to that of adult human
subjects. The congruity effect was also present in the monkey. These
findings, taken together with the notion that monkeys are not considered to
think in propositional terms, may favor an analog comparison model in the
monkey.



the wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. he is in front of it - axel munthe

"Never doubt that a small group of dedicated citizens can change the world. 
Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."      Margaret Mead
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