Monkeys can solve problems better than us
Monkeys exhibit more cognitive flexibility than humans when it comes to exploring more efficient options to solving a problem, according to a study. The study illustrates how humans can suffer from learned biases that can lead us to make inefficient decisions and miss opportunities. Cognitive flexibility is the brain’s ability to transition from thinking about one concept to another.
“We are a unique species and have various ways in which we are exceptionally different from every other creature on the planet. But we’re also sometimes really dumb,” said Julia Watzek, a graduate student at Georgia State University in the US.
The study illustrates how capuchin and rhesus macaque monkeys were significantly less susceptible than humans to “cognitive set” bias when presented a chance to switch to a more efficient option. The results supported earlier studies with fellow primates, baboons and chimpanzees, who also showed a greater willingness to use optional shortcuts to earn a treat compared to humans who persisted in using a familiar learned strategy despite its relative inefficiency. The test involved establishing a specific strategy to lead to a solution. Through trial and error using a computer, monkeys and humans had to follow a pattern by pushing a striped square then a dotted square and then, when it appeared, a triangle to achieve the goal and receive a reward.
After the strategy was learned, subsequent trials presented the triangle option immediately without having to push the patterned squares in sequence. All of the monkeys quickly used the shortcut, while 61 per cent of the humans did not. About 70 per cent of all the monkeys used the shortcut the very first time it was available compared to only one human.