Posted on 10/17/2019 10:25:49 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Monkeys may show off their physical flexibility as they clamber over tangled tree branches, but the animals also display impressive "cognitive flexibility," or the ability to quickly change how they think about, and work to solve, a problem.
In the game, four squares appeared on screen during each trial: one striped, one spotted and two blank. In training sessions, players learned that clicking the striped square and then the spotted square would cause a blue triangle to pop up in place of one of the blank squares. Clicking the blue triangle produced a reward — in this case, an auditory whoop for humans to indicate that they had solved the puzzle, and a banana pellet for monkeys.
"They kind of like playing computer games and getting banana pellets," Watzek told Live Science. The primates voluntarily enter the testing compartment during the study and interact with the computer using a modified video game controller.
Partway through the game, the researchers introduced a shortcut: a quick-and-dirty cheat to win the game without following the established rules.
Suddenly, the blue triangle began to appear at the start of gameplay, alongside the striped and spotted squares. If a player clicked on the blue triangle immediately, they received their reward right away. This shortcut appeared in half of the subsequent trials. About 70% of the monkeys took advantage of the shortcut the very first time it appeared, and more than 20% used the strategy whenever possible.
In comparison, only one human out of 56 took the shortcut when it first appeared, and none used the strategy in every trial they could. Instead, they stuck to what they knew, clicking the striped and spotted squares in succession before daring to prod the blue triangle.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
The humans are easier to train to do a task a certain way. Which probably makes them better employees.
This must be the background data on the recent Fox News impeachment poll.
The monkey believes the point is to earn a banana; the human believes the point is to help researchers.
bttt
All that proves is that monkeys will cheat any chance they get........Never trust a monkey
Volition could be considered the consequence of a weighted sum of competing urges. Among them in people, unlike monkeys, would be a desire to follow the rules for their own sake.
I’ve run into a few cheating Monkeys during my Lifetime.
They were the most fun, that’s for sure.
We’re supposed to starve the monkeys, not give them banana pellets.
I also wonder how the results would differ if the humans got banana pellets as a reward too...
The monkeys have no moral compass.
They also throw poop...
Marijuana edibles...
It is more difficult to un-learn something that it was to learn it in the first place..............
It just shows monkeys are less set in their ways than humans. Once a human gets into a habit its very tough to change. Democrat voters are a prime example.
I think I’d try harder for a banana pellet than an ‘auditory whoop.’
Who knew Mickey Dolenz was an accomplished online gamer?
Someone who has over a hundred browser tabs open as a matter of routine is another.
Although shown the task manager with the CPU pegged at 100 percent and turtle slow speed, I might as well not be even in the same room.
I would imagine that just about any monkey could beat me at computer games. Spatial problems or games are very difficult for me, though I’m pretty intelligent in most other ways. Not only do I not do well in those sorts of problems, video games of the most elementary content increase anxiety in me, so I don’t find them the least bit enjoyable.
The monkeys also don't feel any social pressure to please anyone or do something the "right" way.
Food or a whoop. Food or a whoop. Hmmm, which could possibly increase the learning curve?
Ever walk through a jail? Sub-humans throw poop, too.
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