Comparative cognitive studies on short-term memory in mandrill monkeys

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There has still been few cognitive studies in mandrill monkeys (Mandrillus sphinx). In this study, I trained to use a touchscreen monitor in captive mandrills in Kyoto City Zoo. The experiments were conducted open to zoo visitors for "exhibition of intelligence". The participants were two adults and three juveniles. We trained to touch the monitor by successive approximation, but juvenile mandrills spontaneously started to touch stimuli on the monitor by observational learning. This processes were similar to those in chimpanzee infants called "education by master-apprenticeship". The mandrills learned sequence of Arabic numerals. After they mastered the sequence, the juvenile mandrills were tested working memory in "masked sequence test". Their performance did not changed at the second item although the following items were masked after touching the first item. The results suggest a chunk of the first two items. Visual preference test was also conducted, but showed no clear results.