Comparative studies of memory in monkey and human subjects suggest similarities in visual recognition memory across human and nonhuman primates. In order to investigate developmental aspects of visual recognition memory in monkey infants, the familiarization-novelty procedure, developed for use with human infants, was employed with pigtailed monkey infants to study long-delay recognition memory. Subjects were familiarized with a black-and-white abstract pattern. Twenty-four hours later they were tested with the familiar pattern paired with a novel one. Results indicated a significant visual preference for the novel stimulus, providing evidence for recognition memory. These results parallel those obtained with human infants, suggesting further similarities in the development of visual recognition memory.Key words: visual recognition, memory development, pigtailed macaques, Mucacu nemestrina
1NTK.ODUCTIONOnly recently has the investigation of primate memory included direct comparisons of memory in human and nonhuman primates [Sands & Wright, 1980a,b, 1982 Roberts & Kraemer, 19811. Such studies have found qualitatively similar results with monkey and human adult subjects in regard to the shape of the serial position curve for lists of visually presented stimuli [Sands & Wright, 19803,b; Roberts & Kraemer, 19811. Sands & Wright [1982] also have reported qualitative similarities in memory scanning by monkey and human subjects for visual stimuli presented in serial lists.To the extent that similarities in memory processes are demonstrated across human and nonhuman primates, theoretical treatments of memory must include consideration of nonverbal encoding, storage, and retrieval processes. Thus, at the most fundamental level, an understanding of memory processes in monkeys may provide insight into some aspects of human memory.Previous studies have included investigation of stimulus parameters, task parameters, and temporal parameters in order to develop theories of memory in [see, eg, Jarrard & Moise, 1970, 1971D'Amato, 1973; Mason & Wilson, 1974;Mishkin & Delacour, 1975;Devine et al, 1979; Parkinson & Medin, 19831. All of the previous studies have used adult monkeys in experimental tasks requiring extensive training, food reward, and large numbers of trials. Such studies have provided a great deal of information regarding memory processes in fully developed animals, but the elaborate training procedures involved prohibit the use of currently available experimental techniques to study developmental aspects of memory in monkeys. A procedure used extensively with human infant subjects to investigate developmental aspects of memory is the familiarization-novelty paradigm [Frantz, 1964; Saayman et al, 1964; Fagan 19701. This procedure involves the presentation of two identical stimuli for a familiarization period, followed by the presentation of the familiar stimulus paired with a novel one. Significantly more looking at the novel pattern during the test is taken to indicate memory for the familiar pattern. Using vari...
