Event memory and misinformation effects in a gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla).
Event memory and misinformation effects were examined in an adult male gorilla ( Gorilla gorilla gorilla). The gorilla witnessed a series of unique events, involving a familiar person engaging in a novel behavior (experiment 1), a novel person engaging in a novel behavior (experiment 2), or the presentation of a novel object (experiment 3). Following a 5- to 10-min retention interval, a tester gave the gorilla three photographs mounted on wooden cards: a photograph depicting the correct person or object and two distractor photographs drawn from the same class. The gorilla responded by returning a photograph. If correct, he was reinforced with food. Across three experiments, the gorilla performed significantly above chance at recognizing the target photograph. In experiment 4, the gorilla showed at-chance performance when the event was followed by misinformation (a class-consistent, but incorrect photograph), but significantly above-chance performance when no misinformation occurred (either correct photograph or no photograph). Although the familiarity can account for these data, they are also consistent with an episodic-memory interpretation.
Schwartz
Bennett L
BL
Florida International University, University Park, FL 33199, Miami, USA. schwartb@fiu.edu
Meissner
Christian A
CA
Hoffman
Megan
M
Evans
Siân
S
Frazier
Leslie D
LD
D000818:Animals; D008192:Deception; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D006071:Gorilla gorilla / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010781:Photography; D021641:Recognition, Psychology