Studies of Learning Skills with Different Levels of Difficulty in Hamadryas Baboons ( Papio hamadryas )
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Studies of Learning Skills with Different Levels of Difficulty in Hamadryas Baboons (Papio hamadryas) A. E. Anikaev, V. G. Chalyan, and N. V. Meishvili
UDC 591.513.2
Translated from Zhurnal Vysshei Nervnoi Deyatel’nosti imeni I. P. Pavlova, Vol. 70, No. 1, pp. 71–85, January–February, 2020. Original article submitted April 18, 2019. Revised version received August 30, 2019. Accepted September 16, 2019. We report here studies of the ability to learn skills of three levels of difficulty in 69 hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas). Skills were formed using the following stimuli: position and color (skill 1), only position (skill 2), and only color (skill 3). Results were assessed in terms of the following criteria: learning ability, trainability, exploratory activity, and learning dynamics. High levels of exploratory activity were seen in the three skills. High levels of learning ability and trainability were seen for both the first skill and the second. Study animals were found for the most part to be unable to learn the third skill. The results are discussed. Keywords: hamadryas baboons, skill acquisition, learning, learning ability, trainability, learning dynamics, exploratory activity.
Introduction. Studies of cognitive capacities in primates are among the priority areas in current science. Data obtained in this field provide information for solving problems in the evolution of the mind [Barney et al., 2015; Beran et al., 2016; Byrne and Bates, 2010; Seed and Tomasello, 2010; van Schaik and Pradhau, 2003]. Studies of the cognitive capacities of laboratory primates have identified the properties of brain functioning [Boschin et al., 2015; Byrne and Corp, 2004; Deander et al., 2007; Gale et al., 2013; Paton et al., 2006; Wilson et al., 2017], have established the effects of pharmaceutical substances [Curtis et al., 2015; Sandin et al., 1990; Zhou et al., 2015], have assessed the nature of the influences of a variety of actions on cognitive functions [Belyaeva et al., 2017; Krause et al., 2017; Rahman et al., 2013; Schneider et al., 2013], and have studied aging [Callahan et al., 2013; Joly et al., 2014; Nagahara et al., 2010]. Similar studies using laboratory primates need to be based on knowledge of cognitive indicators in animals in the normal physiological state. This study is directly primarily at analysis of characteristics such as learning ability in hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas). With time, use of Harlow’s object learning set formation method [Harlow, 1949] in this area has yielded a barrage
of data. Studies of learning ability in primates have been carried out using a variety of methodological approaches, starting with classical set-ups and leading to state-of-theart systems in which animals work with computer screens both in individual keeping conditions and in conditions of being kept in social groups [Fagot and Bonte, 2010; Fagot et al., 2013; Zurcher et al., 2010]. Experiments of this type have been run using a number of primate species, ranging from lemurs and capuchins to macaques and anthropoi
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