Inserção de Estímulos Abstratos em Categorias Naturais: Favorecendo a Formação de Classes Arbitrárias em Macaco-Prego

Abstract

Empirically, one of the ways to investigate the ontogenetic and phylogenetic aspects of symbolic behavior is through the study of the formation of arbitrary classes in animals. Part of the challenge in achieving this repertoire in animals lies in designing teaching protocols free of unwanted sources of stimulus control. This study aimed to observe the categorization process in capuchin monkeys, from a gradual denaturalization of the stimuli used, to the complete absence of similarity between the images presented and the conceptual category itself. Two capuchin monkeys with experimental history in categorization tasks were used. The applied procedure was a simultaneous simple discrimination task divided into blocks of attempts with specific characteristics for each teaching context. Subjects were exposed to images of paradigmatic and intermediate natural categories, silhouettes, icons and a letter representing each category. Correction measures were applied to each readjustment need presented by the subjects. The results show that the subjects completed the five phases in a relatively low number of sessions, if we take into account the complexity of the required performance. In the letters phase, faced with the alternation of natural and purely abstract attempts, it was only observed to respond almost free of errors in a category with a single subject. Even though emergent responding was not observed in the other categories, all criteria were achieved in a relatively low volume of attempts.