Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1997
Abstract
Three chimpanzees with a history of conditional and numeric token training spontaneously matched relations between relations under conditions of nondifferential reinforcement. Heretofore, this conceptual ability was demonstrated only in language-trained chimpanzees. The performance levels of the language-naive animals in this study, however, were equivalent to those of a 4th animal—Sarah—whose history included language training and analogical problem solving. There was no evidence that associative factors mediated successful performance in any of the animals. Prior claims of a profound disparity between language-trained and language-naive chimpanzees apparently can be attributed to prior experience with arbitrary tokens consistently associated with abstract relations and not language per se.
Recommended Citation
Thompson, R. K., Oden, D. L., & Boysen, S. T. (1997). Language-naive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) judge relations between relations in a conceptual matching-to-sample task. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 23(1), 31.
Comments
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