Comparative assessment of psychomotor performance: target prediction by humans and macaques (Macaca mulatta)

Abstract

Although nonhuman primates such as rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) have been useful models of many aspects of cognition and performance, it has been argued that, unlike humans, they may lack the capacity to respond as predictor-operators. Data from the present series of experiments undermine this claim, suggesting instead a continuity of predictive competency between humans and nonhuman primates. A prediction coefficient was devised to examine the degree to which each subject's response path approximated the optimal predictive strategy. Whereas human subjects (N = 30) generally predicted more accurately, rhesus monkeys (N = 10) also significantly anticipated the movements of the target in all conditions. It appears that humans and rhesus monkeys both exhibit the capacity to respond to where a stimulus is going.