Investigación conductual sobre memoria de trabajo: integrando métodos cualitativos y cuantitativos

The long lasting opposition between qualitative and quantitative methods for studying behaviour has been overridden by interdisciplinary work in which methods can be combined to approach animal and human behaviour, thus contributing to drawing rigorous and useful conclusions. We show an example of this by combining a quasi-experimental design and descriptive methods to study working memory for the resolution of a spatial problem task (the Tower of Hanoi) in a neuropsychiatric hospital inpatient with amnesia and executive deficits. Results from the quasi-experiment showed that the patient acquired strategies to solve the task with a high level of efficiency (F3/35 = 7, 19, p < .01). Qualitatively speaking, the patient developed more than one strategy to solve the problem, which indicates the presence of learning based on working memory. In the light of these findings, we discuss issues of mixed methods research and suggest the importance of developing mixed methods to study behaviour. Key words: Behavioural research, mixed methods, Tower of Hanoi, working memory RESUMEN La oposición duradera entre métodos cualitativos y cuantitativos para estudiar el comportamiento ha sido anulada por el trabajo interdisciplinario en que los métodos pueden combinarse para enfocar el comportamiento humano y animal, contribuyendo así a obtener conclusiones útiles y rigurosas. Se presenta una muestra, combinando métodos descriptivos y un diseño cuasiexperimental para estudiar la memoria de trabajo en la resolución de una tarea de problema espacial (la Torre de Hanoi), en un paciente internado en un hospital neuropsiquiátrico con amnesia y déficit ejecutivo. Resultados del cuasiexperimento demostraron que el paciente adquirió estrategias para resolver la tarea con un alto nivel de eficiencia (F3/35 = 7, 19, p < .01). Cualitativamente el paciente desarrolló más de una estrategia para resolver el problema, lo cual indica la presencia de aprendizaje basado en memoria de trabajo. A la luz de estos resultados, se discuten métodos de investigación mixtos y se sugiere la importancia de desarrollar métodos mixtos para estudiar el comportamiento.La oposición duradera entre métodos cualitativos y cuantitativos para estudiar el comportamiento ha sido anulada por el trabajo interdisciplinario en que los métodos pueden combinarse para enfocar el comportamiento humano y animal, contribuyendo así a obtener conclusiones útiles y rigurosas. Se presenta una muestra, combinando métodos descriptivos y un diseño cuasiexperimental para estudiar la memoria de trabajo en la resolución de una tarea de problema espacial (la Torre de Hanoi), en un paciente internado en un hospital neuropsiquiátrico con amnesia y déficit ejecutivo. Resultados del cuasiexperimento demostraron que el paciente adquirió estrategias para resolver la tarea con un alto nivel de eficiencia (F3/35 = 7, 19, p < .01). Cualitativamente el paciente desarrolló más de una estrategia para resolver el problema, lo cual indica la presencia de aprendizaje basado en memoria de trabajo. A la luz de estos resultados, se discuten métodos de investigación mixtos y se sugiere la importancia de desarrollar métodos mixtos para estudiar el comportamiento.Fil: Bacigalupe, Maria de Los Angeles. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Cs.naturales y Museo. Division Etnografia; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Tujague, María Paula. Universidad Nacional de La Plata; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Spath, Griselda M.. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Cs.naturales y Museo. Division Etnografia; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Lahitte, Hector Blas. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Cs.naturales y Museo. Division Etnografia; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Factors influencing terrestriality in primates of the Americas and Madagascar

Among mammals, the order Primates is exceptional in having a high taxonomic richness in which the taxa are arboreal, semiterrestrial, or terrestrial. Although habitual terrestriality is pervasive among the apes and African and Asian monkeys (catarrhines), it is largely absent among monkeys of the Americas (platyrrhines), as well as galagos, lemurs, and lorises (strepsirrhines), which are mostly arboreal. Numerous ecological drivers and species-specific factors are suggested to set the conditions for an evolutionary shift from arboreality to terrestriality, and current environmental conditions may provide analogous scenarios to those transitional periods. Therefore, we investigated predominantly arboreal, diurnal primate genera from the Americas and Madagascar that lack fully terrestrial taxa, to determine whether ecological drivers (habitat canopy cover, predation risk, maximum temperature, precipitation, primate species richness, human population density, and distance to roads) or species-specific traits (bodymass, group size, and degree of frugivory) associate with increased terrestriality. We collated 150,961 observation hours across 2,227 months from 47 species at 20 sites in Madagascar and 48 sites in the Americas. Multiple factors were associated with ground use in these otherwise arboreal species, including increased temperature, a decrease in canopy cover, a dietary shift away from frugivory, and larger group size. These factors mostly explain intraspecific differences in terrestriality. As humanity modifies habitats and causes climate change, our results suggest that species already inhabiting hot, sparsely canopied sites, and exhibiting more generalized diets, are more likely to shift toward greater ground use

Factors influencing terrestriality in primates of the Americas and Madagascar

Among mammals, the order Primates is exceptional in having a high taxonomic richness in which the taxa are arboreal, semiterrestrial, or terrestrial. Although habitual terrestriality is pervasive among the apes and African and Asian monkeys (catarrhines), it is largely absent among monkeys of the Americas (platyrrhines), as well as galagos, lemurs, and lorises (strepsirrhines), which are mostly arboreal. Numerous ecological drivers and species-specific factors are suggested to set the conditions for an evolutionary shift from arboreality to terrestriality, and current environmental conditions may provide analogous scenarios to those transitional periods. Therefore, we investigated predominantly arboreal, diurnal primate genera from the Americas and Madagascar that lack fully terrestrial taxa, to determine whether ecological drivers (habitat canopy cover, predation risk, maximum temperature, precipitation, primate species richness, human population density, and distance to roads) or species-specific traits (body mass, group size, and degree of frugivory) associate with increased terrestriality. We collated 150,961 observation hours across 2,227 months from 47 species at 20 sites in Madagascar and 48 sites in the Americas. Multiple factors were associated with ground use in these otherwise arboreal species, including increased temperature, a decrease in canopy cover, a dietary shift away from frugivory, and larger group size. These factors mostly explain intraspecific differences in terrestriality. As humanity modifies habitats and causes climate change, our results suggest that species already inhabiting hot, sparsely canopied sites, and exhibiting more generalized diets, are more likely to shift toward greater ground use

Behavioural research on human working memory: mixing qualitative and quantitative methods (Investigación conductual sobre memoria de trabajo: Integrando métodos cualitativos y cuantitativos)

ABSTRACT: The long lasting opposition between qualitative and quantitative methods for studying behaviour has been overridden by interdisciplinary work in which methods can be combined to approach animal and human behaviour, thus contributing to drawing rigorous and useful conclusions. We show an example of this by combining a quasi-experimental design and descriptive methods to study working memory for the resolution of a spatial problem task (the Tower of Hanoi) in a neuropsychiatric hospital inpatient with amnesia and executive deficits. Results from the quasi-experiment showed that the patient acquired strategies to solve the task with a high level of efficiency (F3/35 = 7, 19, p < .01). Qualitatively speaking, the patient developed more than one strategy to solve the problem, which indicates the presence of learning based on working memory. In the light of these findings, we discuss issues of mixed methods research and suggest the importance of developing mixed methods to study behaviour. RESUMEN: La oposición duradera entre métodos cualitativos y cuantitativos para estudiar el comportamiento ha sido anulada por el trabajo interdisciplinario en que los métodos pueden combinarse para enfocar el comportamiento humano y animal, contribuyendo así a obtener conclusiones útiles y rigurosas. Se presenta una muestra, combinando métodos descriptivos y un diseño cuasiexperimental para estudiar la memoria de trabajo en la resolución de una tarea de problema espacial (la Torre de Hanoi), en un paciente internado en un hospital neuropsiquiátrico con amnesia y déficit ejecutivo. Resultados del cuasiexperimento demostraron que el paciente adquirió estrategias para resolver la tarea con un alto nivel de eficiencia (F3/35 = 7, 19, p < .01). Cualitativamente el paciente desarrolló más de una estrategia para resolver el problema, lo cual indica la presencia de aprendizaje basado en memoria de trabajo. A la luz de estos resultados, se discuten métodos de investigación mixtos y se sugiere la importancia de desarrollar métodos mixtos para estudiar el comportamiento

Prioritizing Areas for Primate Conservation in Argentina

Argentina lies within the southernmost distributional range of five neotropical primates, the brown howler monkey Alouatta guariba, the black-and-gold howler monkey Alouatta caraya, the black-horned capuchin Sapajus nigritus, the Azara&rsquo;s capuchin Sapajus cay, and the Azara&rsquo;s owl monkey Aotus azarae; the first three of which are globally threatened. These species occupy different ecoregions: the Alto Paran&aacute; Atlantic forest, the Araucaria moist forest, the humid Chaco, the Southern Cone Mesopotamian savanna, the Paran&aacute; Ffooded savanna, and the Southern Andean Yungas. The recently approved National Primate Conservation Plan of Argentina calls for identifying priority areas to focus conservation actions for these species. We used species distribution models to estimate species ranges and then used the Zonation software to perform a spatial conservation prioritization analysis based on primate habitat quality and connectivity to identify potential areas of importance at national and ecoregional levels. Only 7.2% (19,500 km2) of the area inhabited by primates in Argentina is under protection. Outside the current protected areas, the top-ranked 1% and 5% priority areas identified in our analysis covered 1894 and 7574 km2, respectively. The top 1% areas were in the Atlantic forest of Misiones province, where S. nigritus, A. guariba, and A. caraya are distributed, and in the humid portion of eastern Chaco and Formosa provinces, where A. azarae and A. caraya are present. The top 5% areas included portions of the Yungas, where S. cay is the only primate present. Priority areas in Chaco and Formosa provinces are particularly relevant because of the paucity of protected areas and the high deforestation rate. The endangered A. guariba population will benefit from the better protection of the priority areas of Misiones. The potential priority areas proposed herein, considered within a context of a broad participatory process involving relevant stakeholders and local people, will help guide new and innovative conservation policies and practices while supporting management objectives

Long-Term Spatial Memory and Learning Set Formation in Captive Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus libidinosus = Sapajus cay)

Researchers have long suspected that nonhuman primates have long-term spatial memory for locating food. However, few empirical studies have assessed spatial memory for a period longer than 1 day in nonhuman primates in a foraging context.We used a modified version of the radial maze to test long-term memory for periods of 2 days or longer in two groups of Cebus libidinosus = Sapajus cay (N=10; N=6) in captivity (environment completely human constructed) and semicaptivity (relatively natural environment with few human-made structures) at La Plata Zoo and Botanical Park, Buenos Aires, Argentina, between 2007 and 2010. The experimental design included a set of three accessible baited feeders interspersed among three nonaccessible baited feeders. We tested monkeys in one initial exposure period, four periods of longterm memory (2 days, 76 days, 76+2 days, and 4 months of delay), and one period of inversion of the experimental set location. We used the latter to analyze the monkeys’ abilities to develop learning sets. Captive subjects appeared to remember sites with accessible and nonaccessible food for periods of 2 days, 76 days, and 4 months, and used learning sets to reduce relearning times when exposed to a change in the learned locations. Although semicaptive subjects also appeared to remember sites with accessible and nonaccessible food, their performance was less accurate. We conclude that capuchins used spatial memory to improve their foraging efficiency.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo (FCNM

Factors influencing terrestriality in primates of the Americas and Madagascar

Among mammals, the order Primates is exceptional in having a high taxonomic richness in which the taxa are arboreal, semiterrestrial, or terrestrial. Although habitual terrestriality is pervasive among the apes and African and Asian monkeys (catarrhines), it is largely absent among monkeys of the Americas (platyrrhines), as well as galagos, lemurs, and lorises (strepsirrhines), which are mostly arboreal. Numerous ecological drivers and species-specific factors are suggested to set the conditions for an evolutionary shift from arboreality to terrestriality, and current environmental conditions may provide analogous scenarios to those transitional periods. Therefore, we investigated predominantly arboreal, diurnal primate genera from the Americas and Madagascar that lack fully terrestrial taxa, to determine whether ecological drivers (habitat canopy cover, predation risk, maximum temperature, precipitation, primate species richness, human population density, and distance to roads) or species-specific traits (body mass, group size, and degree of frugivory) associate with increased terrestriality. We collated 150,961 observation hours across 2,227 months from 47 species at 20 sites in Madagascar and 48 sites in the Americas. Multiple factors were associated with ground use in these otherwise arboreal species, including increased temperature, a decrease in canopy cover, a dietary shift away from frugivory, and larger group size. These factors mostly explain intraspecific differences in terrestriality. As humanity modifies habitats and causes climate change, our results suggest that species already inhabiting hot, sparsely canopied sites, and exhibiting more generalized diets, are more likely to shift toward greater ground use.Open access articleThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]