Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Navigating two-dimensional mazes: chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and capuchins (Cebus apella sp.) profit from experience differently

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Animal Cognition Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We examined whether navigation is impacted by experience in two species of nonhuman primates. Five chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and seven capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) navigated a cursor, using a joystick, through two-dimensional mazes presented on a computer monitor. Subjects completed 192 mazes, each one time. Each maze contained one to five choices, and in up to three of these choices, the correct path required moving the cursor away from the Euclidean direction toward the goal. Some subjects completed these mazes in a random order (Random group); others in a fixed order by ascending number of choices and ascending number of turns away from goal (Ordered group). Chimpanzees in both groups performed equivalently, demonstrated fewer errors and a higher rate of self-correcting errors with increasing experience at solving the mazes, and made significantly fewer errors than capuchin monkeys. Capuchins were more sensitive to the mode of presentation than chimpanzees; monkeys in the Ordered group made fewer errors than monkeys in the Random group. However, capuchins’ performance across testing changed little, and they remained particularly susceptible to making errors when the correct path required moving away from the goal. Thus, these two species responded differently to the same spatial challenges and same learning contexts. The findings indicate that chimpanzees have a strong advantage in this task compared to capuchins, no matter how the task is presented. We suggest that differences between the species in the dynamic organization of attention and motor processes contribute to their differences in performance on this task, and predict similar differences in other tasks requiring, as this one does, sustained attention to a dynamic visual display and self-produced movements variably towards and away from a goal.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alberts S (1994) Vigilance in young baboons. Effects of habitat, age, sex and maternal rank on glance rate. Anim Behav 47:749–755

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson J, Awazu S, Fujita K (2000) Can squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) learn self-control? A study using food array selection tests and reverse-reward contingency. J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process 26:87–97

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barkley RA (1997) Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: constructing a unifying theory of ADHD. Psychol Bull 121:65–94

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bjorklund DF (2004) Children’s thinking. Cognitive development and individual differences. Wadsworth, Belmont

    Google Scholar 

  • Boesch C, Boesch-Achermann H (2000) The chimpanzees of the Taï Forest: behavioural ecology and evolution. Oxford Univ Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Case R (1992) The mind’s staircase. Erlbaum, Hillsdale

    Google Scholar 

  • Case R, Okamoto Y (1996) The role of central conceptual structures in the development of children’s thought. Monogr Soc Res Child Dev 61(1/2):131–155

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cox RFA, Smitsman AW (2006) Action planning in young children’s tool use. Dev Sci 9:628–641

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • De Kort S, Tebbich S, Dally J, Emery S, Clayton N (2006) The comparative cognition of caching. In: Wasserman E, Zentall T (eds) Comparative cognition: experimental explorations of animal intelligence. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 529–552

    Google Scholar 

  • De Lillo C, Visalberghi E (1994) Transfer index and mediational learning in tufted capuchins (Cebus apella). Int J Primatol 15:275–287

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diamond A, Kirkham N, Amso D (2002) Conditions under which young children can hold two rules in mind and inhibit a prepotent response. Dev Psychol 38:352–362

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Evans TA, Westergaard GC (2006) Self-control and tool-use in tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). J Comp Psychol 120:163–166

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fagot J, Wasserman E, Young M (2001) Discriminating the relation between relations: the role of entropy in abstract conceptualization by baboons (Papio papio) and humans (Homo sapiens). J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process 27:316–328

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer KW, Bidell T (1998) Dynamic development of psychological structures in action and thought. In: Damon W (series ed), Lerner R (volume ed) Handbook of child psychology: vol 1. Theoretical models of human development (5th edn) John Wiley, New York, pp 467–561

  • Fragaszy DM, Cummins-Sebree SE (2005) Relational spatial reasoning by a nonhuman: the example of capuchin monkeys. Behav Cogn Neurosci Rev 4:282–306

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fragaszy D, Johnson-Pynn J, Hirsh E, Brakke K (2003) Strategic navigation of two-dimensional alley mazes: comparing capuchin monkeys and chimpanzees. Anim Cogn 6:149–160

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fragaszy D, Crast J, Matsuzawa T (2004a) Intrinsic movements of the hands in chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys. Folia Primatol 75:83

    Google Scholar 

  • Fragaszy DM, Visalberghi E, Fedigan LM (2004b) The complete capuchin: the biology of the genus Cebus. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Genty E, Palmier C, Roeder J (2004) Learning to suppress responses to the larger of two rewards in two species of lemurs, Eulemur fulvus and E macaco. Anim Behav 67:925–932

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirsch BT (2002) Social monitoring and vigilance behavior in brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 52:458–464

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt KD (1996) The postural feeding hypothesis: an ecological model for the evolution of bipedalism. S Afr J Sci 92(2):77–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Iversen I, Matsuzawa T (2001) Acquisition of navigation by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in an automated fingermaze task. Anim Cogn 4:179–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson-Pynn J, Fragaszy DM, Brakke KE, Hirsh EM, Greenfield PM (1999) Strategies used to combine seriated cups by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), bonobos (Pan paniscus), and capuchins (Cebus apella). J Comp Psychol 113:137–148

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kenemans JL, Bekker EM, Lijffijt M, Overtoom CCE, Jonkman LM, Verbaten MN (2005) Attention deficit and impulsivity: selecting, shifting, and stopping. Int J Psychophysiol 58:59–70

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Klahr D (1994) Discovering the present by predicting the future. In: Haith MM, Benson JB, Roberts RJ Jr, Pennington BF (eds) The development of future-oriented processes. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 177–218

    Google Scholar 

  • Kralik JD (2005) Inhibitory control and response selection in problem solving: how cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) overcome a bias for selecting the larger quantity of food. J Comp Psychol 119:78–89

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Leighty KA, Fragaszy DM (2003) Joystick acquisition in tufted capuchins (Cebus apella). Anim Cogn 6:141–148

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Matsuzawa T (2001) Primate foundations of human intelligence: a view of tool use in nonhuman primates and fossil hominids. In: Matsuzawa T (ed) Primate origins of human cognition and behavior. Springer, Tokyo, pp 3–25

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • McGonigle B, Chalmers M, Dickinson A (2003) Concurrent disjoint and reciprocal classification by Cebus apella in seriation tasks: evidence for hierarchical organization. Anim Cogn 6:185–197

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Menzel E Jr, Menzel C (2007) Do primates plan routes? Simple detour problems reconsidered. In: Washburn D (ed) Primate perspectives on behavior and cognition. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, pp 175–206

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Murnane A, Fragaszy D, Hopkins W (2001) Spatial cognition: experience affects how apes navigate two-dimensional mazes. Am J Primatol 54:82

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray EA, Kralik JD, Wise SP (2005) Learning to inhibit prepotent responses: successful performance by rhesus macaques, Macaca mulatta, on the reversed-contingency task. Anim Behav 69:991–998

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson W, Washburn D, Hopkins W, Savage-Rumbaugh E, Rumbaugh D (1990) The NASA/LRC computerized test system. Behav Res Methods Instrum Comput 22:127–131

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rogoff B, Mistry J, Goncu A, Mosier C (1993) Guided participation in cultural activity by toddlers and caregivers. Monogr Soc Res Child Dev 58:R5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose L, Fedigan L (1995) Vigilance in white-faced capuchins, Cebus capucinus, in Costa Rica. Anim Behav 49:759–796

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rumbaugh DM, Pate JL (1984) The evolution of cognition in primates: a comparative perspective. In: Roitblat HL, Bever TG, Terrace HS (eds) Animal cognition: proceedings of the Harry N. Frank Guggenheim conference. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, New Jersey. pp 569–587

  • Santos LR, Ericson BN, Hauser MD (1999) Constraints on problem solving and inhibition: object retrieval in cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus oedipus). J Comp Psychol 113:186–193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schutte AR, Spencer JR, Schoner G (2003) Testing the dynamic field theory: working memory for locations become more spatially precise over development. Child Dev 74:1393–1417

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scott N, Fragaszy D, Menzel C (2006) Chimpanzees’ (Pan troglodytes) strategies for managing concurrent, asymmetric spatial relations in an insertion task. Am J Primatol 68(Suppl 1):118

    Google Scholar 

  • Shettleworth S (1998) Cognition, evolution and behavior. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegler R, Alibali M (2004) Children’s thinking, 4th edn. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River

    Google Scholar 

  • Silberberg A, Fujita K (1996) Pointing at smaller food amounts in an analogue of Boysen and Berntson’s (1995) procedure. J Exp Anal Behav 66:143–147

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith LB, Thelen E (2003) Development as a dynamic system. Trends Cogn Sci 7:343–348

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spencer JR, Hund AM (2003) Developmental continuity in the processes that underlie spatial recall. Cogn Psychol 47:432–480

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spencer JR, Smith LB, Thelen E (2001) Tests of a dynamic systems account of the A-not-B error: the influence of prior experience on the spatial memory abilities of two-year-olds. Child Dev 72:1327–1346

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Spinozzi G, De Lillo C, Castelli S (2004a) Detection of grouped and ungrouped parts in visual patterns by tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) and humans (Homo sapiens). J Comp Psychol 118:297–308

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spinozzi G, Lubrano G, Truppa V (2004b) Categorization of above and below spatial relations by tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). J Comp Psychol 118:403–412

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thelen E, Smith LB (1994) A dynamic systems approach to the development of cognition and action. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello M, Call J (1997) Primate cognition. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Treves A (2000) Theory and method in studies of vigilance and aggregation. Anim Behav 60:711–722

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van Schaik C, van Noordwijk M (1989) The special role of male Cebus monkeys in predation avoidance and its effect on group composition. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 24:265–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Visalberghi E, McGrew WC (1997) Cebus meets Pan. Int J Primatol 18:677–681

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willatts P (1989) Development of problem-solving in infancy. In: Slater A, Bremner G (eds) Infant development. Erlbaum, London, pp 143–182

  • Willatts P (1999) Development of means-end behavior in young infants: pulling a support to retrieve a distant object. Dev Psychol 35:651–667

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wright K (2007) The relationship between locomotor behavior and limb morphology in brown (Cebus apella) and weeper (Cebus olivaceus) capuchins. Am J of Primatol 69:1–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Wulf G, Shea CH (2002) Principles derived from the study of simple skills do not generalize to complex skill learning. Psychon Bull Rev 9:185–211

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank James Fuller for developing the original maze presentation software, Emil Menzel for development of the pixel tracking program, and the UGA Instrument Shop for the creation of our testing apparatus. We thank Liz Hirsch, Amy Venable, Monique Dase, Jacqueline Montoya, Dayana Atalah, and Katie Leighty for assistance in testing the monkeys, and Carrie Rosengart, Jinae Lee and Jaxx Reeves for aid in statistical analysis. We thank our anonymous reviewers for careful comments which substantially improved this manuscript. This work was supported by HD06016, HD38051, and MH58855 from the National Institutes of Health (USA) and SBR-9729485 from the National Science Foundation to Georgia State University, and the University of Georgia. This study complied with all laws regulating animal care and use in the United States.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Department, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Dorothy M. Fragaszy, Erica Kennedy & Gene Brewer

  2. Frostburg State University, Frostburg, MD, USA

    Erica Kennedy

  3. Yerkes Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Aeneas Murnane & William Hopkins

  4. Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Charles Menzel

  5. Berry College, Mount Berry, GA, USA

    Julie Johnson-Pynn

  6. Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA, USA

    William Hopkins

Authors
  1. Dorothy M. Fragaszy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Erica Kennedy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Aeneas Murnane
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Charles Menzel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Gene Brewer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Julie Johnson-Pynn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. William Hopkins
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dorothy M. Fragaszy.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fragaszy, D.M., Kennedy, E., Murnane, A. et al. Navigating two-dimensional mazes: chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and capuchins (Cebus apella sp.) profit from experience differently. Anim Cogn 12, 491–504 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-008-0210-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-008-0210-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation