Foraging by Tamarins

A new method presented geometric and nongeometric cues to cotton top tamarins, and then tested their ability to use each type of cue to find treats separately. Tamarins (n=6) learned to find the site with the heaviest baiting out of 3 possible sites. In tests in which geometric or nongeometric cues were presented alone, tamarins continued to select the site associated with the most food. When both types of cues were pitted against each other in a conflict test, tamarins switched to choosing less often a particular site when the overall value of the two cues combined was weaker. Tamarins’ choices confirmed that they integrated the cues, used them in isolation, and assessed their combined values at each site.

Coding Space

Deciphering the Code:; The Relative Influence of Geometric and Nongeometric Cues in Spatial Foraging by Cotton Top Tamarins (Saguinus oedipus)
: Julie J. Neiworth and Robin H. Ballard
: Presented at the 44th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Nov 6, 2003, in Vancouver, Canada.
: Click tamarins to the left to see the poster in pdf form that was presented!