Reversal learning in the neonatal rhesus monkey

Twenty-one day old and 31 day old monkeys were presented with a black-versus-white discrimination reversal problem after having completed 20 days of learning on the original problem. Age at the time of reversal was not a significant factor, but reversing to the white stimulus was significantly faster than reversing to the black stimulus. This preference persisted over repeated reversals. The infant monkey shows improvement in repeated reversal learning that is very similar to the behavior of the adult rat.