A computer touch screen system and training procedure for use with primate infants: Results from pigtail monkeys (Macaca nemestrina)

• Published in: Developmental psychobiology Vol. 50; no. 2; pp. 160 - 170
• Main Authors: Mandell, Dorothy J., Sackett, Gene P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.03.2008
• Subjects: Age Factors; Animals; cognition; Computer Terminals; Computer User Training; computerized testing; Conditioning, Operant; Equipment Design; Female; infant; Macaca nemestrina - psychology; Male; Microcomputers; monkeys; Motivation; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Psychomotor Performance; Software; Touch
• ISSN: 0012-1630; 1098-2302; 1098-2302
• DOI: 10.1002/dev.20251

Computerized cognitive and perceptual testing has resulted in many advances towards understanding adult brain–behavior relations across a variety of abilities and species. However, there has been little migration of this technology to the assessment of very young primate subjects. We describe a training procedure and software that was developed to teach infant monkeys to interact with a touch screen computer. Eighteen infant pigtail macaques began training at 90‐postnatal days and five began at 180‐postnatal days. All animals were trained to reliably touch a stimulus presented on a computer screen and no significant differences were found between the two age groups. The results demonstrate the feasibility of using computers to assess cognitive and perceptual abilities early in development. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 50: 160–170, 2008.