Problem solving and functional design features: experiments on cotton-top tamarins,Saguinus oedipus oedipus

Hauser, Marc D.; Kralik, Jerald D.; Botto‐Mahan, Carezza

doi:10.1006/anbe.1998.1032

Cited by 155 publications

(134 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Of most direct relevance to the current experiments, and in particular the set-up described below, are the string of studies on tool use that involve pulling an object to obtain a distant piece of food (Hauser 1997;Hauser et al 1999Hauser et al , 2002.…”

Section: General Methods (A) Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Give unto others: genetically unrelated cotton-top tamarin monkeys preferentially give food to those who altruistically give food back

Hauser

Chen

et al. 2003

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

178

118

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Altruistic food giving among genetically unrelated individuals is rare in nature. The few examples that exist suggest that when animals give food to unrelated others, they may do so on the basis of mutualistic or reciprocally altruistic relationships. We present the results of four experiments designed to tease apart the factors mediating food giving among genetically unrelated cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus), a cooperatively breeding New World primate. In experiment 1 we show that individuals give significantly more food to a trained conspecific who unilaterally gives food than to a conspecific who unilaterally never gives food. The apparent contingency of the tamarins' food-giving behaviour motivated the design of experiments 2-4. Results from all three experiments show that altruistic food giving is mediated by prior acts of altruistic food giving by a conspecific. Specifically, tamarins do not give food to unrelated others when the food received in the past represents the by-product of another's selfish actions (experiments 2 and 3) or when a human experimenter gives them food (experiment 4) as did the unilateral altruist in experiment 1. By contrast, if one tamarin gives another food without obtaining any immediate benefit, then the recipient is more likely to give food in return. Overall, results show that tamarins altruistically give food to genetically unrelated conspecifics, discriminate between altruistic and selfish actions, and give more food to those who give food back. Tamarins therefore have the psychological capacity for reciprocally mediated altruism.

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Section: General Methods (A) Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Give unto others: genetically unrelated cotton-top tamarin monkeys preferentially give food to those who altruistically give food back

Hauser

Chen

et al. 2003

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

178

118

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The presentations were randomly ordered in the sessions, interspersed with the test trials. Hauser et al (1999) established an accuracy of 92% of correct choices per session (or 13 correct choices in 14 trials) in Wve consecutive sessions (control trials not included) as a criterion for learning in condition A. Such a high criterion was required to ensure that eventual mistakes in subsequent conditions would not be due to diYculties already present in condition A (being therefore related to the subsequent test manipulations).…”

Section: Test Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Problems in nature seldom come in exactly the same form-even when they can be solved through already-learned procedures. Hauser et al (1999) developed a two-choice experimental paradigm to test cotton-top tamarins' (Saguinus oedipus oedipus) capacity of generalizing the solutions to two problems involving in the access to out-of-reach food items: in the "On" problem, the correct choice was pulling a piece of cloth on which the food reward laid (as opposed to another piece of food, inaccessible, set beside its corresponding cloth), while in the "Connected" problem, the correct choice was pulling a single piece of cloth with a reward on it (the other option being two "disconnected" pieces of cloth, with the inaccessible food on the farther one).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning generalization in problem solving by a blue-fronted parrot (Amazona aestiva)

Mendonça-Furtado

Ottoni

2008

Anim Cogn

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Pepperberg (The Alex studies: cognitive and communicative abilities of gray parrots. Harvard University Press, Cambridge;1999) showed that some of the complex cognitive capabilities found in primates are also present in psittacine birds. Through the replication of an experiment performed with cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus oedipus) by Hauser et al. (Anim Behav 57:565-582; 1999), we examined a blue-fronted parrot's (Amazona aestiva) ability to generalize the solution of a particular problem in new but similar cases. Our results show that, at least when it comes to solving this particular problem, our parrot subject exhibited learning generalization capabilities resembling the tamarins'.

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“…Studies have shown that non-human animals generalize along causally relevant features (Hauser 1997;Hauser et al 1999Hauser et al , 2002, pay more attention to causal anomalies (O'Connell & Dunbar 2005;Hauser & Spaulding 2006) and are sensitive to the causal structure of events (Blaisdell et al 2006). However, there is no conclusive evidence that non-human animals can use causal knowledge rather than associative learning to solve complex physical problems ( Visalberghi & Limongelli 1994;Limongelli et al 1995;Povinelli 2000;Fujita et al 2003;Call 2004;Tebbich & Bshary 2004;Cunningham et al 2006;Mulcahy & Call 2006;Santos et al 2006;Seed et al 2006;Penn & Povinelli 2007;Girndt et al 2008;Martin-Ordas et al 2008;Sabbatini & Visalberghi 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do New Caledonian crows solve physical problems through causal reasoning?

et al. 2008

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The extent to which animals other than humans can reason about physical problems is contentious. The benchmark test for this ability has been the trap-tube task. We presented New Caledonian crows with a series of two-trap versions of this problem. Three out of six crows solved the initial trap-tube. These crows continued to avoid the trap when the arbitrary features that had previously been associated with successful performances were removed. However, they did not avoid the trap when a hole and a functional trap were in the tube. In contrast to a recent primate study, the three crows then solved a causally equivalent but visually distinct problem-the trap-table task. The performance of the three crows across the four transfers made explanations based on chance, associative learning, visual and tactile generalization, and previous dispositions unlikely. Our findings suggest that New Caledonian crows can solve complex physical problems by reasoning both causally and analogically about causal relations. Causal and analogical reasoning may form the basis of the New Caledonian crow's exceptional tool skills.

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Problem solving and functional design features: experiments on cotton-top tamarins,Saguinus oedipus oedipus

Cited by 155 publications

References 33 publications

Give unto others: genetically unrelated cotton-top tamarin monkeys preferentially give food to those who altruistically give food back

Give unto others: genetically unrelated cotton-top tamarin monkeys preferentially give food to those who altruistically give food back

Learning generalization in problem solving by a blue-fronted parrot (Amazona aestiva)

Do New Caledonian crows solve physical problems through causal reasoning?

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