Transposition in Young Monkeys and Children

Abstract

30 young monkeys with discrimination learning experience and 30 first grade children were trained to discriminate stimulus pairs which differed in either brightness, volume, or volume plus brightness. After achieving the criteria of learning, Ss were tested for transposition on a fixed number of trials with stimulus pairs along the same dimension. The order of the near and far tests of transposition was counterbalanced. Both monkeys and children made the fewest errors in learning and transferring on the compound stimulus dimension. The most errors were made in learning and transfer on the brightness stimuli and on the far test condition. The analysis yielded no other significant sources of variance for children. However, the order of transposition testing, and the interactions of order × near-far test condition, stimulus dimension × near-far condition, and order × near-far × stimulus were significant sources of variance for the monkeys. Monkeys tested on the far test first made fewer errors on subsequent tests, and the magnitude of the reductions was most dramatic in the brightness condition. The results were interpreted in terms of stimulus differentiation in perceptual learning which assumes that relative differences among stimuli are valid sources of information.