{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"bioRxiv"}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T16:17:23Z","timestamp":1785428243915,"version":"3.56.0"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,19]]},"group-title":"Animal Behavior and Cognition","reference-count":30,"publisher":"openRxiv","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,19]],"date-time":"2026-07-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1784419200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"award":["R01MH129641"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01MH129641"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/04xeg9z08","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,18]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>Forward planning involves mentally simulating future choices. Such mental simulation may constitute an independent cognitive operation, or it may be intricately linked to canonical cognitive operations supporting working memory of choice options, covert attentional information sampling, forming memory models of problem structure and effort control for pursuing future goals. Here, we test the relative independence of planning in non-human primates with an object-sequence planning task assessed together with an assay of simpler cognitive tasks. The sequence task unexpectedly masked objects at future serial positions probing NHP\u2019s to plan ahead serial future choices. We found that five of six subjects planned ahead 2-3 ordinal positions. Planning depth was predicted by knowledge of the serial structure but constituted a unique cognitive factor that was distinct from sequence memory, object memory, and learning efficacy. Similarly, planning was segregated from working memory capacity, attention, inhibitory control and effort control. These findings suggest that planning ahead constitutes a separate construct not reducible to other domain-general cognitive operations, and emerges in NHP\u2019s that successfully form an internal model of the problem structure.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.64898\/2026.07.17.739240","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,19]],"date-time":"2026-07-19T17:15:31Z","timestamp":1784481331000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Planning in Nonhuman Primates Emerges from Structure Knowledge and is Distinct from Attention, Working Memory, Effort Control, and Learning"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1342-8706","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xuan","family":"Wen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240"},{"name":"Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Nashville, TN 372404"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Adam","family":"Neumann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Seema","family":"Dhungana","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4509-6870","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paul","family":"Tiesinga","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Donders Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen 6525 EN, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6921-4187","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thilo","family":"Womelsdorf","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240"},{"name":"Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Nashville, TN 372404"},{"name":"Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"54368","reference":[{"key":"2026072209300756000_2026.07.17.739240v1.1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1297","DOI":"10.1162\/JOCN.a.2584","article-title":"Visual Simulation Is Supported by Sequential Monitoring in the Lateral Prefrontal Cortex","volume":"38","year":"2026","journal-title":"J Cogn Neurosci"},{"key":"2026072209300756000_2026.07.17.739240v1.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.4483-06.2007"},{"key":"2026072209300756000_2026.07.17.739240v1.3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuron.2018.10.002"},{"key":"2026072209300756000_2026.07.17.739240v1.4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"160","DOI":"10.1037\/a0038936","article-title":"Looking ahead? Computerized maze task performance by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella), and human children (Homo sapiens)","volume":"129","year":"2015","journal-title":"J Comp Psychol"},{"key":"2026072209300756000_2026.07.17.739240v1.5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2012.08.006"},{"key":"2026072209300756000_2026.07.17.739240v1.6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/0096-3445.128.3.309"},{"key":"2026072209300756000_2026.07.17.739240v1.7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10071-002-0137-8"},{"key":"2026072209300756000_2026.07.17.739240v1.8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.0151-18.2018"},{"key":"2026072209300756000_2026.07.17.739240v1.9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cub.2007.10.027"},{"key":"2026072209300756000_2026.07.17.739240v1.10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mattar M , Chen S , Jensen K (2025) Rational decisions in multi-step environments with few rollouts. 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