Probabilistic inferential decision-making under time pressure in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)

Area of Science:

• Cognitive neuroscience
• Animal behavior
• Decision-making research

Background:

• Human decision-making under uncertainty often involves probabilistic inference.
• Time pressure can lead to satisficing strategies, where less informative cues are ignored.
• Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) are utilized as a model for studying cognitive processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare probabilistic inference and satisficing strategies in rhesus macaques versus humans.
• To assess macaques' ability to integrate information from multiple probabilistic cues.
• To investigate the impact of time pressure on macaque decision-making.

Main Methods:

• Two rhesus macaques performed a probabilistic choice task with compound visual stimuli.
• Stimuli comprised four cue dimensions with varying probabilistic weights influencing reward.
• Task performance was evaluated under normal and time-pressured conditions.

Main Results:

• Both macaques successfully learned the probabilistic weights of the cues.
• Under time pressure, accuracy decreased due to reduced cue utilization.
• One macaque exhibited human-like satisficing; both displayed a novel "group-the-best" strategy.

Conclusions:

• Rhesus macaques can discriminate objects using multiple visual dimensions and probabilistic inference.
• Macaques offer a valid animal model for decision-making research.
• Differences in strategy under time pressure warrant caution when using macaques to model human satisficing.