title: Sequential recall of meaningful and arbitrary sequences by orangutans and human children: Does content matter?
abstract: Do visual cues such as size, color, and number facilitate sequential recall in orangutans and human children? In Experiment 1, children and adult orangutans solved two types of sequences, arbitrary (unrelated pictures) and meaningful (pictures varied along a spectrum according to the size, color, or number of items shown), in a touchscreen paradigm. It was found that visual cues did not increase the percentage of correct responses for either children or orangutans. In order to demonstrate that the failure to spontaneously seriate along these dimensions was not due to a general inability to perceive the dimensions nor to an inability to seriate items, in Experiment 2, orangutans were trained on one type of sequence and tested on novel sequences organized according to the same rule (i.e., pictures varied on the number spectrum only). The orangutans performed significantly better on novel meaningful sequences in this task than on novel arbitrary sequences. These results indicate that, while orangutans and human children share the ability to learn how to order items according to their size, color, or number, both orangutans and humans lack a cognitive propensity to spontaneously (i.e., without prior training or enculturation) order multiple items by size, color, or number.
authors: Department of Anthropology, Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, 800 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC, 20052, USA. lrenner@gwmail.gwu.edu.|National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA. lrenner@gwmail.gwu.edu.
authors: Elizabeth
authors: E
authors: Renner
authors: National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA.|Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK.
authors: Elizabeth E
authors: EE
authors: Price
authors: Department of Anthropology, Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, 800 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC, 20052, USA.|National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA.|Department of Speech and Hearing Science, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
authors: Francys
authors: F
authors: Subiaul
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D057079:Pongo; D012691:Serial Learning
keywords: Children; Development; Great apes; Memory; Monotonicity; Sequential learning