Biomaterial Database

How do tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) understand causality involved in tool use? 2003

Kazuo Fujita, and Hika Kuroshima, and Saori Asai

Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan. kfujita@bun.kyoto-u.ac.jp

Four tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) were trained to choose from 2 hook-like tools, 1 of which successfully led to collecting food, whereas the other did not because of inappropriate spatial arrangement of the tool and the food. In Experiment 1, all of the monkeys successfully learned the basic task. The monkeys performed successfully with tools of novel colors and shapes in Experiments 2-5. These results demonstrate that the monkeys used the spatial arrangement of the tool and the food as a cue. However, they failed when there were obstacles (Experiment 6) or traps (Experiment 7) on the path along which the monkeys dragged tools. These results may suggest that capuchin monkeys understand the spatial relationship between 2 items, namely, food and the tool, but do not understand the spatial relationship among 3 items, namely, food, tool, and the environmental condition. The possible role of stimulus generalization is also considered.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D009949	Orientation	Awareness of oneself in relation to time, place and person.	Cognitive Orientation,Mental Orientation,Psychological Orientation,Cognitive Orientations,Mental Orientations,Orientation, Cognitive,Orientation, Mental,Orientation, Psychological,Orientations,Orientations, Cognitive,Orientations, Mental,Orientations, Psychological,Psychological Orientations
D011340	Problem Solving	A learning situation involving more than one alternative from which a selection is made in order to attain a specific goal.
D011597	Psychomotor Performance	The coordination of a sensory or ideational (cognitive) process and a motor activity.	Perceptual Motor Performance,Sensory Motor Performance,Visual Motor Coordination,Coordination, Visual Motor,Coordinations, Visual Motor,Motor Coordination, Visual,Motor Coordinations, Visual,Motor Performance, Perceptual,Motor Performance, Sensory,Motor Performances, Perceptual,Motor Performances, Sensory,Perceptual Motor Performances,Performance, Perceptual Motor,Performance, Psychomotor,Performance, Sensory Motor,Performances, Perceptual Motor,Performances, Psychomotor,Performances, Sensory Motor,Psychomotor Performances,Sensory Motor Performances,Visual Motor Coordinations
D002428	Cebus	A genus of the family CEBIDAE, subfamily CEBINAE, consisting of gracile or untufted capuchin species. Tufted capuchins belong to genus SAPAJUS. Members include C. capucinus, C. nigrivultatus, and C. albifrons. Cebus inhabits the forests of Central and South Americas.	Cebu,Gracile Capuchins,Monkey, Capuchin,Monkey, Ring-Tail,Monkey, Ringtail,Monkey, Ringtailed,Untufted Capuchins,White-Fronted Capuchin,Monkey, Ring-Tailed,Capuchin Monkey,Capuchin Monkeys,Capuchin, Gracile,Capuchin, Untufted,Capuchin, White-Fronted,Gracile Capuchin,Monkey, Ring Tail,Monkey, Ring Tailed,Ring-Tail Monkey,Ring-Tail Monkeys,Ring-Tailed Monkey,Ring-Tailed Monkeys,Ringtail Monkey,Ringtail Monkeys,Ringtailed Monkey,Ringtailed Monkeys,Untufted Capuchin,White Fronted Capuchin,White-Fronted Capuchins
D002755	Choice Behavior	The act of making a selection among two or more alternatives, usually after a period of deliberation.	Approach Behavior,Approach Behaviors,Behavior, Approach,Behavior, Choice,Behaviors, Approach,Behaviors, Choice,Choice Behaviors
D003210	Concept Formation	A cognitive process involving the formation of ideas generalized from the knowledge of qualities, aspects, and relations of objects.	Concept Acquisition,Concept Learning,Conceptualization,Acquisition, Concept,Acquisitions, Concept,Concept Acquisitions,Formation, Concept,Learning, Concept
D004193	Discrimination Learning	Learning that is manifested in the ability to respond differentially to various stimuli.	Discriminative Learning,Discrimination Learnings,Discriminative Learnings,Learning, Discrimination,Learning, Discriminative
D005260	Female		Females
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia