Preliminary Studies of Auditory Problem Solving and Intertask Transfer by the Bottlenose Dolphin

2 Atlantic bottlenose dolphins were tested with 2 simultaneous sound stimuli as discriminanda in successive reversal training (SRT) and discrimination learning set (DLS) paradigms. The first S was tested in the order SRT-DLS, and the second in the order DLS-SRT. Both demonstrated progressive improvement over successive reversals under SRT, with the DLS-SRT S showing fewer errors per reversal and achieving almost twice as many reversals within the fixed number of trials given. Although neither S clearly formed a discrimination learning set within the 180 different auditory problems administered, there was evidence that the prior SRT experience of one S facilitated some aspects of its subsequent DLS performance. The failure in DLS was discussed in terms of the marginal levels of within-problem learning evidenced.