In MacLean, Merritt, and Brannon's research experiment on lemurs, subjects were given a reinforcer provided they chose the higher ranking item in a pair. Given that AB, BC, CD, DE, and EF, then how did a ring-tailed lemur (a social animal) respond when asked to choose between B and F?
A) It chose B.
B) It chose F.
C) It was unable to choose between B and F.
D) It displayed symptoms of experimental neurosis.

Question

In MacLean, Merritt, and Brannon's research experiment on lemurs, subjects were given a reinforcer provided they chose the higher ranking item in a pair. Given that A>B, B>C, C>D, D>E, and E>F, then how did a ring-tailed lemur (a social animal) respond when asked to choose between B and F?
A) It chose B.
B) It chose F.
C) It was unable to choose between B and F.
D) It displayed symptoms of experimental neurosis.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Given the hierarchy A>B>C>D>E>F, the lemur would choose B over F because it has learned to select the higher ranking item from pairs it was presented with.

In MacLean, Merritt, and Brannon's Research Experiment on Lemurs, Subjects