Authors
Vanessa Schmitt and Julia Fischer
Summary
Here we describe the methods used for a two-choice quantity discrimination task, including different control conditions that test for changes in associative strength of the stimuli as well as potential experimenter bias. The experiments revealed that the choices of the monkeys were mainly driven by the fact whether or not they obtained the choice stimuli as food rewards. They did significantly better when tested with inedible items or when they were rewarded with other food for correct choices. Apparently, the monkeys failed at dual representation, i.e., the ability to hold two different mental representations of the same items in mind. The control conditions showed that the change in appearance of the stimuli did not explain the results; nor did they reveal a bias by the experimenter. In conclusion, testing quanity discrimination abilities of a species with food items may lead to an underestimation of their true competence.Further details
The protocol was published on Protocol Exchange on 5 August 2011. To see the entire protocol, click on the source link.Advertisement
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