Abstracts Folia Primatol 2008;79:305–401 Published online: June 13, 2008 DOI: 10.1159/000137690 2nd Congress of the European Federation for Primatology Prague, September 3–7, 2007 Editors: Vaclav Vancata and Marina Vancatova, Prague, Czech Republic Do Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus apella) Deal with Tokens as They Do with Real Food? Elsa Addessia , Alessandra Mancini a, b , Lara Crescimbenea , b , Elisabetta Visalberghi a a Unit of Cognitive Primatology and Primate Centre, Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, CNR, Rome, b Università La Sapienza, Rome, Italy E-Mail:
[email protected] Key Words: Transitivity ؒ Cebus apella ؒ T o k e n s Recent studies on the use of tokens (i.e., inherently non-valuable objects that acquire an associated value upon exchange for food with an experimenter) in non-human primates did not investigate whether individuals use tokens as symbols. Therefore, we evaluated this topic in capuchin monkeys. We trained 10 capuchins to associate two types of tokens (A and B) with different amounts of food. Then, we assessed performance in relative numerousness judgment tasks with food (Experiment 1) and with tokens A (Experiment 2). In both experiments, all ca- puchins chose the highest quantity regardless of the type of item presented. Then, in Experi- ment 3 one token B was presented against 1–5 tokens A. Four capuchins used a flexible strategy, maximizing their payoff. Experiment 4 required the capuchins to choose between 1 and 2 to- kens B, and 3 and 6 tokens A. Only one subject always maximized his payoff in this task.