New type of puzzle-task finger maze learning in Macaca fascicularis (2003)

Tsuchida, J., Kawasaki, K., Sankai, T. et al.

Abstract

In order to easily estimate the global cognitive ability of nonhuman primates, we developed a 4-step noncorrection-method-type finger maze (4FM) based on the standard puzzle feeder. We tested 7 experimentally nave long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) to assess the validity of the apparatus and the testing procedure. The most notable difference between the 4FM and the standard puzzle feeder is the presence of an error box. There is a hole at both ends of each step. One hole of each step is connected to the lower step or feeding box. The other hole of each step is connected to an error box. The monkey had to move the reward into the feeding box without dropping it into the error box and to retrieve the reward from the feeding box. Task difficulties could be controlled by deciding on which step to place the food reward at the beginning of the trial. All the monkeys could complete the tasks without food/water deprivation and pretraining. The results suggest that the 4FM is a suitable device to assess the cognitive ability of the monkeys simply, easily, and objectively.