Abstract
Natural conceptual discriminations have been tested in many different species, including pigeons and a variety of non-human primates. The ability of four male squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) to learn and use the natural concept ‘squirrel monkey’ was investigated in this study. After a training phase, subjects were presented with novel stimuli in transfer and test trials. All subjects performed at a rate significantly above chance on the first test trial (p<.001), indicating that squirrel monkeys can utilize natural concepts in the laboratory.
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Phillips, K.A. Natural conceptual behavior in squirrel monkeys (saimiri sciureus): An experimental investigation. Primates 37, 327–332 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02381864
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02381864