Ordering
and Planning in Sequential Responding to Arabic Numerals by a Chimpanzee
N. Kawai |
A
female chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), who had been trained both in
enumeration and in numerical ordering tasks, was tested to reveal
the cognitive processes underlying the way to solve a serial recognition
task. The chimpanzee called Ai had learned to touch Arabic numerals
(0 through 9) on a computer monitor in an ascending order. In the
present experiment, test trials were occasionally interspersed among
background trials of ordering numerals. In the test trials, two to
four identical numerals were included in a sequence (e.g., 1-3-4-4-5).
There was a total of five patterns of test trial, which varied in
the number of identical numerals in the sequence. Under background
condition, the subject's reaction time was longest at the first response
in a given sequence followed by equal and shorter reaction times
for the remaining responses. Such an L-shaped pattern of reaction
times was also maintained under test conditions. The reaction times
in the first response under test condition, however, were longer
than those of background conditions. The test trials in which four
identical numerals were included in a sequence of five items produced
longest reaction time in the first response, and it was even longer
than that of another test condition, in which all the numerals were
the same (e.g., 3-3-3-3-3). These results strongly suggest that the
chimpanzee not only ordered and memorized all the presented numerals,
but also she planned a motor sequence for correct responses before
making the initial response in a sequence. The present study successfully
isolated a planning process from pre-planning strategy by means of
the manipulation of identical numerals in a sequence, which produced
other possible motor sequences for a correct response. Key words: number, chimpanzee, planning, ordering, cognitive processes |