Metacognition, cognitive effort, and comparisons of avian and primate working memory Restricted; Files Only
Nasrini, Jad (Summer 2024)
Abstract
Working memory has been widely studied as a key component of human behaviors like language, decision-making, and planning. Despite lacking a capacity for language, at least some non-human animals possess a working memory capacity that demonstrates several functional similarities to ours. Working memory is therefore a prime target for comparative research aimed at understanding the evolution of cognition. This dissertation includes three chapters describing studies of the functional properties of working memory contrasted with other memory processes in non-human animals. In Chapter 2, I present evidence on the relative contribution of working memory and familiarity to metamemory judgements that monkeys make when they accept or decline a memory test. Monkeys showed metamemory both before and after seeing the test, and especially after seeing tests that emphasized familiarity, suggesting that both working memory and familiarity contribute to metamemory in monkeys. In Chapter 3, I tested whether the cognitive effort of working memory maintenance is aversive to monkeys by measuring their preference to engage in memory tests that could be solved with working memory, familiarity, or habits. Across four experiments, monkeys did not avoid cognitively effortful tasks that emphasized working memory, suggesting that unlike humans, they are not sensitive to the cognitive effort of working memory maintenance. In Chapter 4, I compared learning and forgetting on tests that emphasize working memory or familiarity between monkeys and domestic chickens. Results suggested some differences between the two species, which could be explained either by different memory processes, or by the same memory processes used differently. Taken together, these studies advance our understanding of the properties and evolution of working memory in non-human animals and add to the literature on the interaction between working memory and executive functions like metacognition and cognitive control.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1. General introduction 1
1.1. Working memory and metacognition 3
1.2. Working memory and cognitive effort 5
1.3. Comparing primate and avian working memory 6
2. Study 1: Prospective and concurrent metamemory of familiarity and working memory by rhesus monkeys 8
2.1. Abstract 8
2.2. Manuscript 9
2.3. Supplemental Materials 18
2.3.1. Experimental Procedure 18
2.3.2. Initial statistical analysis 22
3. Study 2: Rhesus monkeys appear insensitive to the cognitive effort of active working memory across four tests 23
3.1. Abstract 23
3.2. Introduction 24
3.3. Subjects & Materials 27
3.4. Statistical Analysis 27
3.5. Experiment 1: Monkeys showed no preference between tasks that emphasize working memory and familiarity when reward rate was matched by omitting some rewards 28
3.5.1. Procedure 28
3.5.2. Results & Discussion 32
3.6. Experiment 2: Monkeys showed no preference between tasks after memory delay was increased 34
3.6.1. Procedure 35
3.6.2. Results & discussion 36
3.7. Experiment 3: Monkeys showed no task preference when reward probability was matched by degrading the large set images 37
3.7.1. Procedure 38
3.7.2. Results & Discussion 39
3.8. Experiment 4: Monkeys showed no preference between a working memory task and a habit task 41
3.8.1. Procedure 42
3.8.2. Results & Discussion 46
3.9. General Discussion 49
3.10. Supplemental materials 53
4. Study 3: Acquisition and forgetting in matching to sample by rhesus monkeys and domestic chickens 57
4.1. Abstract 57
4.2. Introduction 58
4.3. Subjects & Materials 60
4.4. Experiment 1: Chickens learned matching-to-sample more readily using a small set of images, while monkeys learned the task equally quickly regardless of image set size 62
4.4.1. Procedure 63
4.4.2. Results & Discussion 65
4.5. Experiment 2: Tests with longer delays dissociated memory systems in monkeys but not in chickens 69
4.5.1. Procedure 70
4.5.2. Results & Discussion 72
4.6. General Discussion 77
4.7. Supplemental Materials 82
5. General summary & discussion 85
6. References 93
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File download under embargo until 21 August 2026 | 2024-08-02 13:45:34 -0400 | File download under embargo until 21 August 2026 |
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