Identifying Dependencies in Auditory Stimuli: Squirrel Monkeys

I came across another interesting article on primate behavior this morning, and thought I'd share! This article published in Biology Letters focuses on Saimiri sciureus (squirrel monkeys) and their capability to detect dependencies in auditory stimuli. The process of being able to identify dependencies, in the context of this article, is defined as identifying two (or more) separate sensory stimuli as related. This process also has significant relevance in human cognition. The study found that squirrel monkeys can differentiate between tone sequences that contain a dependency and tone sequences that lack a dependency. The researchers conclude that the capability to identify dependencies had already evolved in the common ancestor between humans and squirrel monkeys.