Abstract
THE monkey's status as a thinker has never been high; yet laboratory investigations testify, nevertheless, to the ability of many species of monkey to learn complex tasks, if not to reason. On this latter point, however, hard evidence is significantly lacking. One reason for this is that it is difficult to devise tests which are both meaningful to non-verbal subjects yet satisfy the stringent requirements of a formal reasoning test such as one adapted from Burt1 which first gives the subject the following information: “Edith is fairer than Suzanne”, “Edith is darker than Lili”, and then requires solution of the question, “which is the darkest, Edith, Suzanne or Lili?”. Bryant and Trabasso2 have devised a simplified method of giving such tests to very young children, and we have adapted this into a non-verbal one for use with monkeys.
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References
Burt, C. J. exp. Pedagogy 5, 68–77 (1919).
Bryant, P. E. & Trabasso, T. Nature 232, 456–458 (1971).
McGonigle, B. O. J. comp. Physiol. Psychol. 64, 110–113 (1967).
Navarick, D. J. & Fantino, E. Psychol Rev. 81, 426–441 (1974).
McGonigle, B. O. & Jones, B. T. Perception 6, 213–217 (1977).
Trabasso, T. in Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology 9 (University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1975).
de Boysson-Bardies, B. & O'Regan, K. Nature 246, 531–534 (1973).
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MCGONIGLE, B., CHALMERS, M. Are monkeys logical?. Nature 267, 694–696 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/267694a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/267694a0
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