Exploration and learning in capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.): the role of action-outcome contingencies.

Animals have a strong propensity to explore the environment. Spontaneous exploration has a great biological significance since it allows animals to discover and learn the relation between specific behaviours and their consequences. The role of the contingency between action and outcome for learning has been mainly investigated in instrumental learning settings and much less in free exploration contexts. We tested 16 capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.) with a mechatronic platform that allowed complex modules to be manipulated and to produce different outcomes. Experimental subjects could manipulate the modules and discover the contingencies between their own specific actions and the outcomes produced (i.e., the opening and lighting of a box). By contrast, Control subjects could operate on the modules, but the outcomes experienced were those performed by their paired Experimental subjects ("yoked-control" paradigm). In the exploration phase, in which no food reward was present, Experimental subjects spent more time on the board and manipulated the modules more than Yoked subjects. Experimental subjects outperformed Yoked subjects in the following test phase, where success required recalling the effective action so to open the box, now baited with food. These findings demonstrate that the opportunity to experience action-outcome contingencies in the absence of extrinsic rewards promotes capuchins' exploration and facilitates learning processes. Thus, this intrinsically motivated learning represents a powerful mechanism allowing the acquisition of skills and cognitive competence that the individual can later exploit for adaptive purposes.

Tipo Pubblicazione: 
Articolo
Author or Creator: 
Polizzi di Sorrentino, Eugenia
Sabbatini, Gloria
Truppa, Valentina
Bordonali, Anna
Taffoni, Fabrizio
Formica, Domenico
Baldassarre, Gianluca
Mirolli, Marco
Guglielmelli, Eugenio
Visalberghi, Elisabetta
Publisher: 
Springer., Heidelberg, Germania
Source: 
Animal cognition (Internet) 17 (2014): 1081–8. doi:10.1007/s10071-014-0740-5
info:cnr-pdr/source/autori:Polizzi di Sorrentino, Eugenia; Sabbatini, Gloria; Truppa, Valentina; Bordonali, Anna; Taffoni, Fabrizio; Formica, Domenico; Baldassarre, Gianluca; Mirolli, Marco; Guglielmelli, Eugenio; Visalberghi, Elisabetta/titolo:Exploratio
Date: 
2014
Resource Identifier: 
http://www.cnr.it/prodotto/i/310252
https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10071-014-0740-5
info:doi:10.1007/s10071-014-0740-5
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10071-014-0740-5
Language: 
Eng
ISTC Author: 
Ritratto di Valentina Truppa
Real name: 
Ritratto di Marco Mirolli
Real name: 
Ritratto di Gloria Sabbatini
Real name: 
Ritratto di Eugenia Polizzi
Real name: