Cargando…
Ambiguous Results When Using the Ambiguous-Cue Paradigm to Assess Learning and Cognitive Bias in Gorillas and a Black Bear
Cognitive bias tests are frequently used to assess affective state in nonhumans. We adapted the ambiguous-cue paradigm to assess affective states and to compare learning of reward associations in two distantly related species, an American black bear and three Western lowland gorillas. Subjects were...
Autores principales: | , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2017
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5618059/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28792447 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs7030051 |
_version_ | 1783267102953570304 |
---|---|
author | McGuire, Molly C. Vonk, Jennifer Johnson-Ulrich, Zoe |
author_facet | McGuire, Molly C. Vonk, Jennifer Johnson-Ulrich, Zoe |
author_sort | McGuire, Molly C. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Cognitive bias tests are frequently used to assess affective state in nonhumans. We adapted the ambiguous-cue paradigm to assess affective states and to compare learning of reward associations in two distantly related species, an American black bear and three Western lowland gorillas. Subjects were presented with three training stimuli: one that was always rewarded (P), one that was never rewarded (N) and one that was ambiguous (A) because its reward association depended on whether it had been paired with P (PA pairing) or N (NA pairing). Differential learning of NA and PA pairs provided insight into affective state as the bear and one gorilla learned NA pairs more readily, indicating that they focused on cues of reinforcement more than cues of non-reinforcement, whereas the opposite was true of one gorilla. A third gorilla did not learn either pairings at above chance levels. Although all subjects experienced difficulty learning the pairings, we were able to assess responses to A during probe trials in the bear and one gorilla. Both responded optimistically, but it was difficult to determine whether their responses were a true reflection of affective state or were due to preferences for specific stimuli. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5618059 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2017 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-56180592017-09-29 Ambiguous Results When Using the Ambiguous-Cue Paradigm to Assess Learning and Cognitive Bias in Gorillas and a Black Bear McGuire, Molly C. Vonk, Jennifer Johnson-Ulrich, Zoe Behav Sci (Basel) Article Cognitive bias tests are frequently used to assess affective state in nonhumans. We adapted the ambiguous-cue paradigm to assess affective states and to compare learning of reward associations in two distantly related species, an American black bear and three Western lowland gorillas. Subjects were presented with three training stimuli: one that was always rewarded (P), one that was never rewarded (N) and one that was ambiguous (A) because its reward association depended on whether it had been paired with P (PA pairing) or N (NA pairing). Differential learning of NA and PA pairs provided insight into affective state as the bear and one gorilla learned NA pairs more readily, indicating that they focused on cues of reinforcement more than cues of non-reinforcement, whereas the opposite was true of one gorilla. A third gorilla did not learn either pairings at above chance levels. Although all subjects experienced difficulty learning the pairings, we were able to assess responses to A during probe trials in the bear and one gorilla. Both responded optimistically, but it was difficult to determine whether their responses were a true reflection of affective state or were due to preferences for specific stimuli. MDPI 2017-08-09 /pmc/articles/PMC5618059/ /pubmed/28792447 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs7030051 Text en © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article McGuire, Molly C. Vonk, Jennifer Johnson-Ulrich, Zoe Ambiguous Results When Using the Ambiguous-Cue Paradigm to Assess Learning and Cognitive Bias in Gorillas and a Black Bear |
title | Ambiguous Results When Using the Ambiguous-Cue Paradigm to Assess Learning and Cognitive Bias in Gorillas and a Black Bear |
title_full | Ambiguous Results When Using the Ambiguous-Cue Paradigm to Assess Learning and Cognitive Bias in Gorillas and a Black Bear |
title_fullStr | Ambiguous Results When Using the Ambiguous-Cue Paradigm to Assess Learning and Cognitive Bias in Gorillas and a Black Bear |
title_full_unstemmed | Ambiguous Results When Using the Ambiguous-Cue Paradigm to Assess Learning and Cognitive Bias in Gorillas and a Black Bear |
title_short | Ambiguous Results When Using the Ambiguous-Cue Paradigm to Assess Learning and Cognitive Bias in Gorillas and a Black Bear |
title_sort | ambiguous results when using the ambiguous-cue paradigm to assess learning and cognitive bias in gorillas and a black bear |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5618059/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28792447 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs7030051 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT mcguiremollyc ambiguousresultswhenusingtheambiguouscueparadigmtoassesslearningandcognitivebiasingorillasandablackbear AT vonkjennifer ambiguousresultswhenusingtheambiguouscueparadigmtoassesslearningandcognitivebiasingorillasandablackbear AT johnsonulrichzoe ambiguousresultswhenusingtheambiguouscueparadigmtoassesslearningandcognitivebiasingorillasandablackbear |