Primate Cognition

Social Learning Mechanisms

 Mechanisms  Stimulus or Social Enhancement (instrumental)  Drawn to object/conspecific, learn via trial and error  Observational Learning (classical)  UR caused by a conspecific  Mimicry (“Monkey See-Monkey Do”)  Copy for copying sake  Imitation (copy to get goal)  Copy to get the same goal as the demonstrator

Theory of Mind Understanding that others have mental processes that may differ from one’s own Emotions Knowledge Visual Perspective

Knowledge Attribution Povinelli (1991)  Knower – sees food being hidden  Guesser – outside of room Stage 1: As above Stage 2: Knower wears hat Stage 3: Guesser stays in room with a bagged head

Chimpanzees (Great Apes) Rhesus Monkeys (New World)

Alternative Chimps discriminated between the two situations based on subtle differences in what the “guesser” and “knower” did. “Choose the one with eyes open during hiding”

“Begging Experiment” Povinelli (1999) Beg from “seeing” vs. “nonseeing”  Front vs. Back – Yes  Pail Beside vs. Over Head - No  Averted Eyes vs. Over Shoulder Look – No  Blindfold Mouth vs. Blindfold Eyes - No

“Chimps Fail Begging Experiment”

“Elephants Pass Begging Experiment” However, this doesn’t imply elephants can “mind-read”

Mark Test Gallup’s Mark Test (Great Apes)

Mark Test Mirror self-recognition:  Chimp, Bonobo – Yes  Orang-utan, Gorilla – Yes  Elephants – Maybe?  Dolphins –Maybe?  Pigeons –No

Human versus Chimps Mind-reading Pointing Impulsive Cooperation Imitation Vis Memory Aud Memory Deception Poor No More Trainable Short-cuts Better Good Poor Good Yes Less Spontaneous Slavishly Good Better Excellent Skill ChimpHuman

Deception Learned by Accident, Intentional, or Species-Specific?  Chimps may act differently based on whether something is found in another’s line of sight Chimps  Food-storing birds re-caching if watched by a conspecific (also if they seem themselves in a mirror)

Chimp Deception

Re-Caching By Crows