Interesting concept - monkeys playing "pong" on a computer.

Obviously.

Reply to Don Wade That really freaked me out. I got a job after college drilling holes in animal brains and seeing how it changed their behavior. After a while I noticed their most frequent behavior when I was in the lab. Looking at me. After a while I got the screamy meamies like they did if I opened their cages.

Of course those experiments were in the cortex, and this is in the cerebellum for motor control but just being reminded of it still freaks me out.

Reply to ernest meyer Quoting ernest meyer

Of course those experiments were in the cortex, and this is in the cerebellum for motor control but just being reminded of it still freaks me out.

Yes, it is freaky. Make one wonder just what else is going on. I didn't even know monkeys could understand the concept of Pong.

Reply to Don Wade Not so weird. When they hit the ball right a machine gives them a food pellet within a second, together with an immediate different sound to cue the association directly. Monkeys are fast learners, you only need to show them it working a couple of times and they do it themselves. Human beings only need the sound, lol.

Quoting ernest meyer

When they hit the ball right a machine gives them a food pellet

So were they really "playing" pong then? Or did they just figure out how to get food? I don't think they were "playing" pong in the same sense as if you and I played pong.