{"pk":5146,"title":"Capuchin Monkeys Exercise Self-control by Choosing Token Exchange Over an Immediate Reward","subtitle":null,"abstract":"Self-control is a prerequisite for complex cognitive processes such as cooperation and planning. As such, comparative studies of self-control may help elucidate the evolutionary origin of these capacities. A variety of methods have been developed to test for self-control in non-human primates that include some variation of foregoing an immediate reward in order to gain a more favorable reward. We used a token exchange paradigm to test for self-control in capuchin monkeys (\nCebus apella\n). Animals were trained that particular tokens could be exchanged for food items worth different values. To test for self-control, a monkey was provided with a token that was associated with a lower-value food. When the monkey exchanged the token, the experimenter provided the monkey with a choice between the lower-value food item associated with the token or another token that was associated with a higher-value food. If the monkey chose the token, they could then exchange it for the higher-value food. Of seven monkeys trained to exchange tokens, five demonstrated that they attributed value to the tokens by differentially selecting tokens for higher-value foods over tokens for lower-value foods. When provided with a choice between a food item or a token for a higher-value food, two monkeys selected the token significantly more than expected by chance. The ability of capuchin monkeys to forego an immediate food reward and select a token that could then be traded for a more preferred food demonstrated some degree of self-control. Thus, results suggest a token exchange paradigm could be a successful technique for assessing self-control in this New World species.","language":"en","license":{"name":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0","short_name":"CC BY 4.0","text":"Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.\r\n\r\nNo additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0"},"keywords":[{"word":"International Journal of Comparative Psychology"},{"word":"Behavior"},{"word":"Behaviour"},{"word":"Communication"},{"word":"vocalization"},{"word":"Comparative Psychology"},{"word":"Behavioral Taxonomy"},{"word":"Behavioural Taoxonomy"},{"word":"cognition"},{"word":"Cognitive Processes"},{"word":"Intelligence"},{"word":"Empathy"},{"word":"human language"},{"word":"primates"}],"section":"Research Article","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5ct8g9g4","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Peter","middle_name":"G.","last_name":"Judge","name_suffix":"","institution":"Bucknell University","department":"None"},{"first_name":"Jennifer","middle_name":"L.","last_name":"Essler","name_suffix":"","institution":"Bucknell University","department":"None"}],"date_submitted":"2013-11-02T10:27:16+05:30","date_accepted":"2013-11-02T10:27:16+05:30","date_published":"2013-11-01T12:30:00+05:30","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"","type":"","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/uclapsych_ijcp/article/5146/galley/3026/download/"}]}