COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGICAL-STUDIES ON GENERALIZATION FUNCTION IN PRIMATES

Using comparative analysis of visual discrimination, generalization, and abstraction, fundamental rules of the formation and development of the generalization function were identified in representatives of three phylogenetically different primate species. These experiments established that rhesus monkeys, brown capuchin monkeys, and chimpanzees, in learning to define the trait of relative size of images, were able to use previously remembered rules in solving other visual tasks of varying degree of complexity. The learning process was realized more. effectively if pictures of natural objects were used. Comparison of learning processes in higher and lower catarrhinian monkeys provides evidence about the higher level of the generalization function in the chimpanzee, including a significant degree of development in the capability for abstraction and reliance on formulated concepts.