Primate Cognitive Flexibility
To assess a likely evolutionary trajectory of cognitive set within the primate species, this project used the LS-DS and EZ LS-DS tasks to test baboons’, chimpanzees’, rhesus macaques’, capuchins’ and humans' abilities to forsake a learned solution strategy in order to adopt a more efficient alternative.
Related Publications
Study Basics:
In these studies, we explored variation in susceptibility to cognitive set within the primate lineage by conducting the LS-DS task with 10 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), 104 humans (ages 7-68), and 15 baboons (Papio papio).
Results:
Using multilevel multinomial modeling, we found that chimpanzees’ shortcut use was intermediate to baboons’ and humans’. However, unlike either baboons or humans, there was pronounced inter- and intra-individual variability in chimpanzees’ shortcut use. Additionally, a subset of chimpanzees employed a unique solution, wherein they switched strategies mid-trial. Further, we found that chimpanzees did not exhibit switch costs when switching between the learned strategy and the shortcut, but humans did. We propose that differences in abstract rule encoding may underlie differences in susceptibility to cognitive set on the Learned Strategy–Direct Strategy task within the primate lineage.
Figure 3. from Pope et al. 2019
Figure 2. from Watzek et al. 2019
Study Basics:
In this study, we explored variation in - and the impact of working memory on- susceptibility to cognitive set within the primate lineage by conducting the EZ LS-DS task with 60 humans, 7 rhesus macaques, and 22 capuchin monkeys.
Results:
Like baboons and chimpanzees, capuchins and rhesus monkeys immediately and consistently used the shortcut. Additionally we found that although humans used the shortcut at a much lower rate, there shortcut-use increased over time (after several Blocks of 48 trials), suggesting that they became more willing to explore alternatives eventually.
Figure 3. from Watzek et al. 2019