A test of object permanence in cotton top tamarins

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Face Processing

Global/Local Processing

Animal Categories

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Numerosity Studies

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An example of an invisible displacement trial.
A Test of Object Permanence in a New World Monkey Species, Cotton Top Tamarins (Saguinus oedipus)
 
Julie J. Neiworth, Eric Steinmark, Benjamin M. Basile, Ryann Wonders, Frances Steely, Catherine DeHart

Animal Cognition (2003) 6: 27-37.
 
DOI: 10.1007/s10071-003-0162-2
 
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Animal Cognition Abstract

 

 

ABSTRACT

Cotton top tamarins were tested in visible and invisible displacement tasks in a method similar to that used elsewhere to test squirrel monkeys and orangutans. All subjects performed at levels significantly above chance on visible (n=8) and invisible (n=7) displacements, wherein the tasks included tests of the perseverance error, tests of memory in double and triple displacements, and "catch" trials that tested for the use of the experimenter's hand as a cue for the correct cup. Performance on all nine tasks was significantly higher than chance level selection of cups, and tasks using visible displacements generated more accurate performance than tasks using invisible displacements. Performance was not accounted for by a practice effect based on exposure to successive tasks. Results suggest that tamarins possess stage 6 object permanence capabilities, and that in a situation involving brief exposure to tasks and foraging opportunities, tracking objects' movements and responding more flexibly are abilities expressed readily by the tamarins.
 

Keywords Object permanence - Monkeys - Tamarins - Object choice task - Development
 
Click here for full-text PDF version of the accepted manuscript:
Click here to see a full-text PDF of a poster of this work, presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, November, 2001, Orlando, Florida.