Malassis, R. , Rey, A. . & Fagot, J.
Laboratory of Cognitive Psychology, CNRS, UMR 7290, Aix-Marseille University, FRANCE
Sensitivity to dependencies between elements plays a crucial role in language acquisition. Studies conducted in nonhuman primates revealed that they can extract regularities between adjacent elements in various types of sequences (e.g., sequences of tones, nonsense syllables, or spatial locations). By contrast, relatively little comparative research has focused on the statistical learning of nonadjacent dependencies (i.e., forming relations over irrelevant intervening element(s)). Yet, there is a growing debate on possible discrepancies in how humans and nonhumans extract regularities when confronted to complex sequences of stimuli. In the current study we tested this ability in a group of baboons, using a serial reaction time task. Baboons were presented with sequences of 3 locations. Sequences contained predictable relations between location 1 and 3, while location 2 varied. This procedure allowed us to track for the first time the continuous time course of nonadjacent dependencies processing in a nonhuman species. The same experiment was conducted in parallel with human subjects. Preliminary results are examined regarding (1) whether or not baboons are able to detect arbitrary fixed spatial dependencies beyond one intervening element, and (2) the divergences in the time course and the modalities of learning between these two species.