Stimulus-food pairings produce stimulus-directed touch-screen responding in cynomolgus monkeys (macaca fascicularis) with or without a positive response contingency.
Acquisition and maintenance of touch-screen responding was examined in naïve cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) under automaintenance and classical conditioning arrangements. In the first condition of Experiment 1, we compared acquisition of screen touching to a randomly positioned stimulus (a gray square) that was either stationary or moving under automaintenance (i.e., banana pellet delivery followed an 8-s stimulus presentation or immediately upon a stimulus touch). For all subjects stimulus touching occurred within the first session and increased to at least 50% of trials by the end of four sessions (320 trials). In the subsequent condition, stimulus touching further increased under a similar procedure in which pellets were only delivered if a stimulus touch occurred (fixed ratio 1 with 8-s limited hold). In Experiment 2, 6 naive subjects were initially exposed to a classical conditioning procedure (8-s stimulus preceded pellet delivery). Despite the absence of a programmed response contingency, all subjects touched the stimulus within the first session and responded on about 50% or more of trials by the second session. Responding was also sensitive to negative, neutral, and positive response contingencies introduced in subsequent conditions. Similar to other species, monkeys engaged in stimulus-directed behavior when stimulus presentations were paired with food delivery. However, stimulus-directed behavior quickly conformed to response contingencies upon subsequent introduction. Video recordings of sessions showed topographies of stimulus-directed behavior that resembled food acquisition and consumption.
Bullock
Christopher E
CE
United States Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense. Christopher.Bullock2@us.army.mil
Myers
Todd M
TM
D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior; D001245:Association Learning; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D008252:Macaca fascicularis / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception; D009042:Motivation; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011597:Psychomotor Performance