Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A test of object permanence in a new-world monkey species, cotton top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus)

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Animal Cognition Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Cotton top tamarins were tested in visible and invisible displacement tasks in a method similar to that used elsewhere to test squirrel monkeys and orangutans. All subjects performed at levels significantly above chance on visible (n=8) and invisible (n=7) displacements, wherein the tasks included tests of the perseverance error, tests of memory in double and triple displacements, and "catch" trials that tested for the use of the experimenter's hand as a cue for the correct cup. Performance on all nine tasks was significantly higher than chance level selection of cups, and tasks using visible displacements generated more accurate performance than tasks using invisible displacements. Performance was not accounted for by a practice effect based on exposure to successive tasks. Results suggest that tamarins possess stage 6 object permanence capabilities, and that in a situation involving brief exposure to tasks and foraging opportunities, tracking objects' movements and responding more flexibly are abilities expressed readily by the tamarins.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The switch from task 1 to task 2 was made to occur within one session, so that the tendency to repeat the prior visited location would be salient. If a session was ended at the end of task 1, the next session began with three trials of task 1 before task 2 was initiated.

References

  • Baillargeon R (1995) Physical reasoning in infancy. In: Gazzaniga M (ed) The cognitive neurosciences. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., pp 181–204

  • Call J (2000) Representing space and objects in monkeys and apes. Cogn Sci 24:397–422

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Call J (2001) Object permanence in orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and children (Homo sapiens). J Comp Psychol 115:159–171

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • de Blois ST, Novak MA (1994) Object permanence in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). J Comp Psychol 108:318–327

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Blois ST, Novak MA, Bond M (1998) Object permanence in orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) and squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus). J Comp Psychol 112:137–152

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • de Blois ST, Novak MA, Bond M (1999) Can memory requirements account for species' differences in invisible displacement tasks? J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process 25:168–176

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Diamond A (1988) Differences between adult and infant cognition: is the crucial variable presence or absence of language? In: Weiskrantz L (ed) Thought without language. Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp 337–370

  • Diamond A (1991) Neuropsychological insights into the meaning of object concept development. In: Carey S, Gelman R (eds) The epigenesis of mind: essays on biology and cognition. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J., pp 67–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Doré FY (1986) Object permanence in adult cats (Felis catus). J Comp Psychol 100:340–347

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doré FY (1990) Search behavior in cats (Felis catus) in an invisible displacement test: cognition and experience. Can J Psychol 44:359–370

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dumas C (1992) Object permanence in cats (Felis catus): an ecological approach to the study of invisible displacements. J Comp Psychol 106:404–410

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dumas C, Brunet C (1994) Permanence de l'objet chez le singe capucin (Cebus apella): etude des deplacements invisibles [Object permanence in capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella): a study of invisible displacements]. Can J Exp Psychol 48:341–357

    Google Scholar 

  • Dumas C, Doré FY (1989) Cognitive development in kittens (Felis catus): a cross-sectional study of object permanence. J Comp Psychol 103:191–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dumas C, Doré FY (1991) Cognitive development in kittens (Felis catus): an observational study of object permanence and sensorimotor intelligence. J Comp Psychol 105:357–365

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dumas C, Wilkie DW (1995) Object permanence in ring doves (Streptopelia risoria). J Comp Psychol 2:142–150

    Google Scholar 

  • Etienne AS (1984) The meaning of object permanence at different zoological levels. Hum Dev 27:309–320

    Google Scholar 

  • Gagnon S, Doré FY (1992) Search behavior in various breeds of adult dogs (Canis familiaris): object permanence and olfactory cues. J Comp Psychol 106:58–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Gagnon S, Doré FY (1993) Search behavior of dogs (Canis familiaris) in invisible displacement problems. Anim Learn Behav 21:246–254

    Google Scholar 

  • Gagnon S, Doré FY (1994) A cross-sectional study of object permanence in domestic puppies (Canis familiaris). J Comp Psychol 108:220–232

    Google Scholar 

  • Goulet S, Doré FY, Rousseau R (1994) Object permanence and working memory in cats (Felis catus). J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process 20:347–365

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hauser MD (1997) Artifactual kinds and functional design features: what a primate understands without language. Cognition 64:285–308

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hauser MD (2000) Wild minds: what animals really think. Holt, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Hauser MD (2001) Searching for food in the wild: a nonhuman primate's expectations about invisible displacement. Dev Sci 4:84–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hauser MD, Kralik J, Botto C, Garrett J, Oser J (1995) Self-recognition in primates: phylogeny and the salience of species-typical traits. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 92:10811–10814

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hauser MD, Kralik J, Botto-Mahan C (1999) Problem solving and functional design features: experiments with cotton-top tamarins. Anim Behav 57:565–582

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hauser MD, Williams T, Kralik JD, Moskovitz D (2001) What guides a search for food that has disappeared? Experiments on cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus). J Comp Psychol 115:140–151

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hood BM, Cole-Davies V, Dias M (2003) Looking and search measures of object knowledge in preschool children. Dev Psychol 39:61–70

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mathieu M, Bergeron G (1981) Piagetian assessment of cognitive development in chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). In: Chiarelli AB, Corruccini RS (eds) Primate behavior and sociobiology. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 142–147

  • Mathieu M, Bouchard MA, Granger L, Herscovitch J (1976) Piagetian object permanence in Cebus capucinus, Lagothrica flavicauda, and Pan troglodytes. Anim Behav 24:585–588

    Google Scholar 

  • Milton K (1988) Foraging behaviour and the evolution of primate intelligence. In: Byrne RW, Whiten A (eds) Machiavellian intelligence. Social expertise and the evolution of intellect in monkeys, apes, and humans. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 285–305

  • Natale F, Antinucci F (1989) Stage 6 object-concept and representation. In: Antinucci F (ed) Cognitive structure and development in nonhuman primates. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J., pp 97–112

  • Natale F, Antinucci F, Spinozzi G, Potí P (1986) Stage 6 object concept in nonhuman primate cognition: a comparison between gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata). J Comp Psychol 100:335–339

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neiworth JJ, Anders SL, Parsons RR (2001) Tracking responses related to self-recognition: a frequency comparison of responses to mirrors, photographs, and videotape of monkeys by cotton top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus). J Comp Psychol 115:432–438

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Neiworth JJ, Burman MA, Basile BM, Lickteig MT (2002) Use of experimenter-given cues in visual co-orienting and in an object-choice task by a new world monkey species, cotton top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus). J Comp Psychol 116:3–11

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pepperberg IM (2002) The value of the Piagetian framework for comparative cognitive studies. Anim Cogn 5:177–182

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pepperberg IM, Kozak FA (1986) Object permanence in the African grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus). Anim Learn Behav 14:322–330

    Google Scholar 

  • Pepperberg IM, Willner MR, Gravits LB (1997) Development of Piagetian object permanence in a grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus). J Comp Psychol 111:63–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Piaget J (1952) The origins of intelligence in children. (Cook M, trans) International Universities Press, New York (Original work published 1936)

  • Piaget J (1954) The construction of reality in the child. (Cook M, trans) Basic Books, New York

  • Redshaw M (1978) Cognitive development in human and gorilla infants. J Hum Evol 7:133–141

    Google Scholar 

  • Schino G, Spinozzi G, Berlinguer L (1990) Object concept and mental representation in Cebus apella and Macaca fascicularis. Primates 31:537–544

    Google Scholar 

  • Spinozzi G, Natale F (1989) Early sensorimotor development in gorilla. In: Antinucci F (ed) Cognitive structure and development in nonhuman primates. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J., pp 21–38

  • Tomasello M, Call J (1997) Primate cognition. Oxford University Press, New York

  • Triana E, Pasnak R (1981) Object permanence in cats and dogs. Anim Learn Behav 9:135–139

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughter RM, Smotherman W, Ordy JM (1972) Development of object permanence in the infant squirrel monkey. Dev Psychol 7:34–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson JS, Gergely G, Csanyi V, Topal J, Gacsi M, Sarkozi Z (2001) Distinguishing logic from association in the solution of an invisible displacement task by children and dogs: using negation of disjunction. J Comp Psychol 115:219–226

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wise KL, Wise LA, Zimmermann RR (1974) Piagetian object permanence in the infant rhesus monkey. Dev Psychol 10:429–437

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood S, Moriarty KM, Gardner BT, Gardner RA (1980) Object permanence in child and chimpanzee. Anim Learn Behav 8:3–9

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Charles Snowdon, PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison, for the generous gift of animals to Carleton College, to Carleton College, and to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for its support of this project, and to the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments. The experiment reported herein complies with the standards for care and research in the United States, as described by USDA and PHS, and was approved by the College's institutional animal care and use committee.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Carleton College, Northfield, MN 55057, USA

    Julie J. Neiworth, Eric Steinmark, Benjamin M. Basile, Ryann Wonders, Frances Steely & Catherine DeHart

Authors
  1. Julie J. Neiworth
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Eric Steinmark
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Benjamin M. Basile
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ryann Wonders
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Frances Steely
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Catherine DeHart
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Julie J. Neiworth.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Neiworth, J.J., Steinmark, E., Basile, B.M. et al. A test of object permanence in a new-world monkey species, cotton top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus). Anim Cogn 6, 27–37 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-003-0162-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-003-0162-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation