Pareamento ao modelo por identidade com 12 estímulos visuais em um macaco-prego (Sapajus spp.)

Abstract

The objective of this work was to develop a teaching procedure for a match-to-model task by identity with zero delay, with 12 abstract visual stimuli (groups of three alphanumeric characters) in an adult male capuchin monkey (Sapajus spp.). The stimuli were 12 groups of three letters each. The procedure had four phases: 1) matching training to the non-conditional model; 2) model conditional matching training; 3) conditional matching training to the model with six comparisons; 4) conditional matching training to the model with alternation at each hit with a gradual increase in the number of comparisons per attempt, from 3 to 6 and to 12 comparisons. The subject advanced in the blocks of attempts and in the phases, as he reached the criterion of number of consecutive correct answers. The stimulus that had been S+ in a previous block of trials was replaced in the next block and returned after performance with the new S+ reached the criterion. In phase 4, with the 12 model stimuli and with 12 choices in all trials, the subject reached the performance criterion of pairing to the model by identity. Faced with the difficulty of documenting the emergence of indirectly trained conditional relations, which would prove the formation of stimulus classes in animals and assuming that the difficulty lies in the inconsistency between the planned stimulus control topography and that developed by the subjects, this work configures itself in a stage of the union of categorical conditional discriminations to abstract stimuli that share with the other members of the category only the function.