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<p>In natural environments, the outcomes of actions are often delayed and separated from the actions themselves by intervening events, posing a credit assignment problem for learning. Although both humans and nonhuman animals can associate actions with immediate subsequent outcomes, little is known about learning when action–outcome delays span multiple, unpredictably ordered events. We investigated whether chimpanzees could associate a choice with a reward delivered several trials later, using a touchscreen-based task. Six chimpanzees completed four experimental rounds involving three trial types: an immediately rewarded discrimination, a non-rewarded choice that triggered a delayed reward, and a reward-delivery trial contingent solely on prior choices. Three chimpanzees showed a significant increase in choosing the stimulus associated with delayed reward. Reversal of stimulus roles in a later round confirmed that increased selection of the delayed-reward stimulus was not attributable to fixed stimulus preferences. Although performance remained variable across individuals and sessions, the results suggest that chimpanzees possess learning mechanisms capable of bridging extended action–outcome gaps, likely operating implicitly rather than through explicit understanding of task structure. Our study contributes to comparative perspectives on the evolutionary origins of learning beyond the “here and now.”</p>

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Chimpanzees link past actions and later outcomes despite intervening irrelevant events in a cognitive task

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月16日

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  • Satoshi Hirata,
  • Akihiro Itahara,
  • Nicolas Goppold,
  • Anushka Vispute,
  • Omer Yinon

摘要

In natural environments, the outcomes of actions are often delayed and separated from the actions themselves by intervening events, posing a credit assignment problem for learning. Although both humans and nonhuman animals can associate actions with immediate subsequent outcomes, little is known about learning when action–outcome delays span multiple, unpredictably ordered events. We investigated whether chimpanzees could associate a choice with a reward delivered several trials later, using a touchscreen-based task. Six chimpanzees completed four experimental rounds involving three trial types: an immediately rewarded discrimination, a non-rewarded choice that triggered a delayed reward, and a reward-delivery trial contingent solely on prior choices. Three chimpanzees showed a significant increase in choosing the stimulus associated with delayed reward. Reversal of stimulus roles in a later round confirmed that increased selection of the delayed-reward stimulus was not attributable to fixed stimulus preferences. Although performance remained variable across individuals and sessions, the results suggest that chimpanzees possess learning mechanisms capable of bridging extended action–outcome gaps, likely operating implicitly rather than through explicit understanding of task structure. Our study contributes to comparative perspectives on the evolutionary origins of learning beyond the “here and now.”