Prompted vs Trial-and-Error Concept Discrimination Learning in Monkeys

Abstract

8 test-sophisticated rhesus monkeys were tested on concept discrimination problems under conventional trial-and-error (TE) procedures and two forms of prompting, i.e., conditions in which an established cue was temporarily available for solution of the problem. Positive Prompting (PP) included a cue attached to the correct stimulus of the discrimination pair; Negative Prompting (NP), a cue attached to the incorrect stimulus. The data revealed significantly better intraproblem learning following NP than following equivalent amounts of either PP or TE.