Monkey versus human performance in the NCTR Operant Test Battery

A battery of operant behavioral tasks, designed to monitor complex "cognitive" functions in monkeys, was adapted for use in children. Adaptations were then incorporated into the monkey battery so that monkeys and children performed exactly the same tasks. Food pellets served as reinforcers for monkeys; nickels for children. Correct responding in a task is thought to depend upon relatively specific brain functions including short-term memory and attention, learning, time perception, motivation, and color and position discrimination. Eight 4-year-old rhesus monkeys served as subjects, and groups (n = 10 to 20) of 4- to 8-year-old children were recruited if they were not known to have any neurological, academic or behavioral problems. In performance of only the learning task was there any significant difference between monkeys and children. This difference was in response rate (not accuracy), with the monkeys responding faster than children. This lone difference in operant responding between monkeys and children was likely due to the fact that monkeys generally use all four appendages to respond whereas children generally do not.