Event-based proactive interference in rhesus monkeys.

Three rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) were tested in a same/different memory task for proactive interference (PI) from prior trials. PI occurs when a previous sample stimulus appears as a test stimulus on a later trial, does not match the current sample stimulus, and the wrong response "same" is made. Trial-unique pictures (scenes, objects, animals, etc.) were used on most trials, except on trials where the test stimulus matched potentially interfering sample stimulus from a prior trial (1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 trials prior). Greater interference occurred when fewer trials separated interference and test. PI functions showed a continuum of interference. Delays between sample and test stimuli and intertrial intervals were manipulated to test how PI might vary as a function of elapsed time. Contrary to a similar study with pigeons, these time manipulations had no discernable effect on the monkey's PI, as shown by compete overlap of PI functions with no statistical differences or interactions. These results suggested that interference was strictly based upon the number of intervening events (trials with other pictures) without regard to elapsed time. The monkeys' apparent event-based interference was further supported by retesting with a novel set of 1,024 pictures. PI from novel pictures 1 or 2 trials prior was greater than from familiar pictures, a familiar set of 1,024 pictures. Moreover, when potentially interfering novel stimuli were 16 trials prior, performance accuracy was actually greater than accuracy on baseline trials (no interference), suggesting that remembering stimuli from 16 trials prior was a cue that this stimulus was not the sample stimulus on the current trial-a somewhat surprising conclusion particularly given monkeys.

The same type of visual working memory limitations in humans and monkeys.

Rhesus monkeys are widely used as an animal model for human memory, including visual working memory (VWM). It is, however, unknown whether the same principles govern VWM in humans and rhesus monkeys. Here, we tested both species in nearly identical change-localization paradigms and formally compared the same set of models of VWM limitations. These models include the classic item-limit model and recent noise-based (resource) models, as well as hybrid models that combine a noise-based representation with an item limit. By varying the magnitude of the change in addition to the typical set size manipulation, we were able to show large differences in goodness of fit among the five models tested. In spite of quantitative performance differences between the species, we find that the variable-precision model--a noise-based model--best describes the behavior of both species. Adding an item limit to this model does not help to account for the data. Our results suggest evolutionary continuity of VWM across primates and help establish the rhesus monkey as a model system for studying the neural substrates of multiple-item VWM.