Five experiments involving invisible displacements were run on a population of semi‐free‐ranging rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). The goal of these experiments was to assess, without training, the kinds of expectations individuals spontaneously set up when an object has moved out of si...
Five experiments involving invisible displacements were run on a population of semi‐free‐ranging rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). The goal of these experiments was to assess, without training, the kinds of expectations individuals spontaneously set up when an object has moved out of sight. The first experiment, modeled after studies of human infants and children, involved a table with one box on the top surface and a second box lined up below on the ground. An occluder was placed in front of the table, blocking the subject’s view. A piece of food was then dropped behind the occluder, above the top box. The presenter then removed the occluder, walked away, and allowed the subject to approach. Consistently, subjects searched in the incorrect bottom box. This error can be interpreted as a failure to understand solidity, containment, or some other factor. It can also be interpreted as an error guided by a gravity bias, i.e. an expectation that all falling objects fall straight down or to the lowest point. Experiments 2-5 tested these alternative hypotheses. Results show that rhesus monkeys do not have an inherent bottom box bias, are not avoiding the top box, and do recognize that in some contexts boxes can contain or hold food. Thus, for example, when the two boxes are placed on the ground, one in front of the other, and occluded, subjects search in the near box after a piece of food has been rolled behind the occluder (horizontal trajectory). This shows that rhesus can solve an invisible displacement problem that involves solid containers, where one container blocks travel to the other container. We conclude that the rhesus monkey’s error in Experiment 1 is guided by an expectation that all falling objects fall straight down or, at least, to the lowest point. This expectation represents a limitation of their knowledge of physical objects and events.
Five experiments involving invisible displacements were run on a population of semi‐free‐ranging rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). The goal of these experiments was to assess, without training, the kinds of expectations individuals spontaneously set up when an object has moved out of sight. The first experiment, modeled after studies of human infants and children, involved a table with one box on the top surface and a second box lined up below on the ground. An occluder was placed in front of the table, blocking the subject’s view. A piece of food was then dropped behind the occluder, above the top box. The presenter then removed the occluder, walked away, and allowed the subject to approach. Consistently, subjects searched in the incorrect bottom box. This error can be interpreted as a failure to understand solidity, containment, or some other factor. It can also be interpreted as an error guided by a gravity bias, i.e. an expectation that all falling objects fall straight down or to the lowest point. Experiments 2-5 tested these alternative hypotheses. Results show that rhesus monkeys do not have an inherent bottom box bias, are not avoiding the top box, and do recognize that in some contexts boxes can contain or hold food. Thus, for example, when the two boxes are placed on the ground, one in front of the other, and occluded, subjects search in the near box after a piece of food has been rolled behind the occluder (horizontal trajectory). This shows that rhesus can solve an invisible displacement problem that involves solid containers, where one container blocks travel to the other container. We conclude that the rhesus monkey’s error in Experiment 1 is guided by an expectation that all falling objects fall straight down or, at least, to the lowest point. This expectation represents a limitation of their knowledge of physical objects and events.
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