Evolution of social cognition and the cognitive bases of transitive inference in monkeys Open Access
Paxton, Regina Lynn (2012)
Abstract
The social intelligence hypothesis posits that life in complex
social groups created
selection pressures that resulted in the evolution of sophisticated
cognitive adaptations
specialized to each species' life history. These cognitive
abilities may be most readily
engaged and measured under conditions that approximate a species'
natural environment.
I validated a novel method for cognitive testing in animals housed
in a semi-natural social
group by showing that these subjects learn and perform similarly to
laboratory animals on
a battery of cognitive tasks including perceptual discrimination,
classification, memory,
and transitive inference (TI). Transitive inference is a cognitive
ability theorized to have
been under selection pressures related to learning dominance
relations. For example, if
animal A is dominant to B (A>B) and B is
dominant to C (B>C), the relation between
animals A and C can be logically inferred (
A>C). TI can also serve non-social purposes;
many species solve nonsocial laboratory TI tasks in which the
relations between items are
defined by reinforcement contingencies (if A+B-, and
B+C-, then A+C-). However,
because the relations are trained by reinforcement, it is unclear
whether non-social TI
performance is controlled by inference or by associative values
accrued to individual
stimuli. TI based on associative values would not support learning
dominance
relationships, because observation of social interactions is not
followed by explicit
reinforcement. Rhesus monkeys were presented with a series of tests
to determine the
contributions of associative values and logical inference to TI
performance. We found
that associative value can influence TI choice in extreme
circumstances, but the inferred
order of stimuli better explains TI choice under normal testing
conditions. Measurement
of the associative values of TI stimuli showed that these values
did not correspond to
performance on TI tests. Monkeys linked two previously learned
7-item TI lists into one
14 item list after training on just one linking pair, performance
that cannot be explained
by associative value alone. The viability of socially housed
animals as cognitive test
subjects will allow for future studies that examine the extent to
which monkeys use TI to
learn natural dominance hierarchies.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter 1.
Introduction
1
The social intelligence hypothesis
Social hierarchies
Transitive inference
Use of transitive inference to learn social hierarchies
Chapter 2.
Comparison of automated cognitive test performance by monkeys in laboratory and large semi-natural social groups
8
Introduction
8
Experiment 1- Perceptual discrimination
15
Experiment 2- Perceptual classification
20
Experiment 3- Transitive inference
25
Experiment 4- Delayed matching to sample
30
General Discussion
35
Chapter 3.
Mechanisms underlying transitive inference performance in rhesus macaques
37
Introduction
37
Experiment 1- Transitive inference
40
Experiment 2- Measurement of associative values
47
Experiment 3. Manipulation of associative values
55
Experiment 4- List linking
61
General discussion
68
Chapter 4.
Summary, synthesis, and future directions
71
Overall discussion of findings
Contributions of findings towards the social intelligence hypothesis
Future directions
References
78
Figures and Tables
Chapter 1.
Introduction
1
Figure 1.
Matrilines in rhesus monkey groups
4
Chapter 1.
Comparison of automated cognitive test performance by monkeys in laboratory and large semi-natural social groups
8
Figure 1.
The testing system used by the Laboratory monkeys
11
Figure 2.
The four testing stations used by the Field station subjects
13
Table 1.
Demographics of subjects working at the Field station
15
Figure 3.
Trial progression during size and brightness discriminations
17
Figure 4.
Stimuli used in size and brightness discriminations
18
Figure 5.
Mean proportion correct on the two criterion sessions
19
Figure 6.
Example trial from perceptual classification
23
Figure 7.
Mean proportion correct during the one transfer session
24
Figure 8.
Training and test pairs used in transitive inference
28
Figure 9.
Symbolic distance effect
30
Figure 10.
Example trial from the memory experiment
33
Figure 11.
Performance on delayed matching to sample
34
Chapter 2.
Mechanisms underlying transitive inference performance in rhesus macaques
37
Table 1.
Training and test phases in Experiment 1
43
Figure 1.
Symbolic distance effect
45
Figure 2.
Symbolic distance effect by first item
46
Table 2.
Results of RM ANOVA for symbolic distance effect by first item
47
Figure 3.
Correlation between object discrimination performance and associative value difference score.
53
Figure 4.
Correlation between TI choice and associative value difference score and symbolic distance
54
Figure 5.
Errors to criterion in the congruent and incongruent conditions
59
Figure 6.
Premise pair performance in the first intermixed session
65
Figure 7.
Symbolic distance effect across between list pairs
67
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