Abstract
[Operant Conditioning in a Prosimian : Perodicticus Potto Edwarsi]
One male and one female Gabonese prosimian (Perodiciicus potto, sub-species eduarsi), held captive in home cages with inverted night-day illumination, have been conditioned on continuous reinforcement (CRF), fixed ratio (FR 20) and fixed interval (FT 60 sec and 2 min) operant schedules. Results obtained show a high manual response rate ability (up to 100 responses per 25 sec) The operant schedules control the overall response rate : the female emits on average 692 responses per FR session against 265 responses per FI session. FR performance equals performance described for classical laboratory animals, in spite of day to day fluctuations of response rate (Fig. 1 and 2). Nevertheless. FI performance shows a poor temporal regulation of responses (Fig. 3). Clusterings of responses, separated by intervals of variable duration and poor scalloping, arc seen on the cumulative record (Fig. 4). The Potto’s slow moving in his natural environment seems to be a preventive dissimulation system to avoid arboreal prey-watchers. This behavioral characteristic allowed us to hypothetizc a good temporal regulation performance. Results obtained on FI schedule (Fig. 3, 4 and 5) didn’t support this hypothesis The poor performance registered and the prolongated response emission interruptions, mainly observed on the FR schedule (Fig. 2), may relate principally to behavioral disruptions due to captivity and to methodological variables such as the procedure or the number of sessions.