Memory of movies by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

J Comp Psychol. 2001 Jun;115(2):152-8. doi: 10.1037/0735-7036.115.2.152.

Abstract

How do animals remember what they see in daily life? The processes involved in remembering such visual information may be similar to those used in interpreting moving images on a monitor. In Experiment 1, 4 adult chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) were required to discriminate between movies using a movie-to-movie matching-to-sample task. All chimpanzees demonstrated the ability to discriminate movies from the very 1st session onward. In Experiment 2, the ability to retain a movie was investigated through a matching-to-sample task using movie stills. To test which characteristics of movies are relevant to memory, the authors compared 2 conditions. In the continuous condition, the scenes comprising the movie progressed gradually, whereas in the discrete condition, the authors introduced a sudden change from one scene to another. Chimpanzees showed a recency effect only in the discrete condition, suggesting that composition and temporal order of scenes were used to remember the movies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Behavior, Animal*
  • Female
  • Pan troglodytes / psychology*
  • Psychomotor Performance
  • Recognition, Psychology*
  • Serial Learning
  • Video Recording*