Orientation and lever responding in auditory discriminations in squirrel monkeys.
Head and hand can follow separate sound rules in the same animal.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team worked with squirrel monkeys in a lab cage.
A sound came from left or right speakers.
They watched where the monkey aimed its head.
They also recorded lever presses for food.
Sometimes both actions had to match the same sound cue.
Other times each action followed a different sound rule.
What they found
Head turn always followed the speaker side.
Lever press did not always follow the speaker side.
When the rules differed, the two moves split apart.
When the rules matched, the moves stayed together.
This shows one body part can learn one sound rule while another part learns a different rule.
How this fits with other research
Sanders et al. (1971) showed monkeys can learn sound location in just three sessions if you deliver food right at the speaker.
The new study keeps the same species and lab setup, but asks what happens when head and lever follow separate sound cues.
Links (1980) found that blocking head turns during a memory task hurts accuracy.
Together these papers show orientation is both easy to train and useful for memory, yet it can still be pulled away from other responses when the task demands it.
Why it matters
You can teach different response forms to different features of the same stimulus.
This matters when you shape communication or play skills in kids who use both eye gaze and hand actions.
If you want clean data, check that each response follows the cue you think it does.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Head orientation during auditory discriminations was studies in squirrel monkeys using a two-lever trial-by-trial procedure. Animals were studied using auditory discriminations based on the position of the sound and on the spectral content differences between a pure tone and a noise. After the percentage of correct responses reached asymptote, head orientation was measured using videotape recordings. Orientation occurred on virtually every trial and was under the control of the position of the sound under all conditions. Lever responding was controlled by the same parameters of the sound under some conditions, and by different parameters in others. Orientation and lever responding were correlated (a level response could be predicted from the direction of orientation) when both responses were under the control of the same parameters of the sound. The two responses were uncorrelated when they were controlled by different parameters of the sound. Orientation and lever responding were not functionally related.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 1977 · doi:10.1901/jeab.1977.28-233