Early emergence of metacognition in rhesus monkeys

Metacognition, or monitoring and controlling one’s knowledge, is a key feature of human cognition. Accumulating evidence shows that foundational forms of metacognition are already present in young infants and then scaffold later-emerging skills. While many animals exhibit cognitive processes relevant to metacognition, it is unclear if other species share the developmental trajectories found in human development. Here, we examine the emergence of metacognitive information-seeking in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). We presented a large sample of semi-free-ranging monkeys, ranging from juvenility to adulthood, with a one-shot task where they could seek information about a food reward by bending down to peer into a center vantage point in an array of tubes. In the hidden condition, information-seeking was necessary as no food was visible on the apparatus, whereas in the visible control condition information-seeking was not necessary to detect the location of the reward. Monkeys sought info..., , , # Data from: Early emergence of metacognition in rhesus monkeys

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.mgqnk9999](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.mgqnk9999)

Study Authors: Yiyun Huang & Alexandra G. Rosati

Correspondence to: [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail])

### **Description of the data**

This data set consists of one file (.xlsx format) with the data from this study. The file includes a data tab with all the data from the task. This includes the demographic characteristics of monkeys that participated in the task (e.g., their age and sex); the experimental condition the monkey was assigned to (hidden versus visible baiting, and right or left side baiting); and their responses in the task (did they search; if they did search the apparatus where did they do so; and the latency and other qualities of their search). Blank values indicate that a particular response measure was not applicable to that monkey. Finally, the file includes key tab where all the variables reported in the main d...,