Great apes know when you're full of crap
Johns Hopkins University
The study also provides the clearest evidence to date that apes
can intuit another's ignorance, an ability thought to be uniquely human.
The work by researchers with Johns Hopkins University's
Social and Cognitive Origins Group published today in Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences.
"The ability to sense gaps in one another's knowledge is at the heart of our most sophisticated social behaviors, central to the ways we cooperate, communicate and work together strategically," said co-author Chris Krupenye a Johns Hopkins assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences who studies how animals think.
"Because this so-called theory of
mind supports many of the capacities that make humans unique, like teaching and
language, many believe it is absent from animals. But this work demonstrates
the rich mental foundations that humans and other apes share -- and suggests
that these abilities evolved millions of years ago in our common
ancestors."
Krupenye and co-author Luke Townrow, a Johns Hopkins PhD student, worked with three male bonobos, Nyota, 25; Kanzi, 43; and Teco, 13, all living at Ape Initiative, a research and education nonprofit. During the experiment one of the bonobos would sit with Townrow, facing each other across a table. The bonobo would watch as a second person placed a treat, a grape or a Cheerio, under one of three cups. Sometimes Townrow could see where the treat was going, sometimes he couldn't. The bonobo could have the treat if Townrow could find it.
Whether or not Townrow saw where the treat was hidden, he'd
say, "Where's the grape?" and then wait 10 seconds. If he'd seen the
treat being hidden, during the 10 seconds the ape would usually sit still and
wait for the treat. But when Townrow hadn't seen where the treat was hidden,
the ape would quickly point to the right cup -- sometimes quite
demonstratively.
"Their fingers would point right through the mesh -- it
was clear what they were trying to communicate," Krupenye said. "One,
Kanzi, who was very food motivated, would point repeatedly in certain phases of
the experiment -- he'd tap several times to get our attention and was quite
insistent about it."
The work is the first to replicate in a controlled setting
similar findings from the wild that suggest chimpanzees will vocalize to warn
groupmates ignorant to potential threats, such as a snake.
"We predicted that if apes are really tracking
ignorance, when their partners lacked knowledge they would be pointing more
often and more quickly and that's exactly what they did," Krupenye said.
"The results also suggest apes can simultaneously hold two conflicting
world views in their mind. They know exactly where the food is, and at the same
time, they know that their partner's view of the same situation is missing that
information."
The team was thrilled to further confirm apes' mental
sophistication.
"There are debates in the field about the capabilities
of primates and for us it was exciting to confirm that they really do have
these rich capacities that some people have denied them," Krupenye said.
Next the team will work to more deeply explore the apes'
motivations and how they think about other individuals' minds.
"What we've shown here is that apes will communicate
with a partner to change their behavior," said Townrow, "but a key
open question for further research is whether apes are also pointing to change
their partner's mental state or their beliefs."
Story Source:
Materials provided by Johns
Hopkins University. Original written by Jill Rosen. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.
