Colour versus quantity as cues in reverse-reward-competent squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus).
To assess the relative salience of colour and quantity cues, squirrel monkeys previously trained to reach for the smaller of two quantities of food in a reverse-reward contingency task received colour discrimination training. After initial failure to discriminate between two colours of dots under a differential reinforcement regime, they learned the task when the S- colour was associated with zero reward. The monkeys then showed good retention on the original reverse-reward task of 1 versus 4 with pairs of dots presented in S+ or S- colours. However, on "mismatch" trials of 1S- versus 4S+ , only 2 of 4 monkeys tested showed a preference--1 monkey chose based on quantity, the other based on colour. Individual differences and the possible roles of overshadowing and blocking are discussed.
Anderson
James R
JR
Department of Psychology, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK. jra1@stir.ac.uk
Awazu
Shunji
S
Fujita
Kazuo
K
D000818:Animals; D003071:Cognition; D003118:Color Perception; D003463:Cues; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D012201:Reward; D012453:Saimiri