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Author Hare, B.; Call, J.; Tomasello, M.
Title Do chimpanzees know what conspecifics know? Type Journal Article
Year 2001 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 61 Issue 1 Pages 139-151
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Abstract We conducted three experiments on social problem solving by chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes. In each experiment a subordinate and a dominant individual competed for food, which was placed in various ways on the subordinate's side of two opaque barriers. In some conditions dominants had not seen the food hidden, or food they had seen hidden was moved elsewhere when they were not watching (whereas in control conditions they saw the food being hidden or moved). At the same time, subordinates always saw the entire baiting procedure and could monitor the visual access of their dominant competitor as well. If subordinates were sensitive to what dominants did or did not see during baiting, they should have preferentially approached and retrieved the food that dominants had not seen hidden or moved. This is what they did in experiment 1 when dominants were either uninformed or misinformed about the food's location. In experiment 2 subordinates recognized, and adjusted their behaviour accordingly, when the dominant individual who witnessed the hiding was replaced with another dominant individual who had not witnessed it, thus demonstrating their ability to keep track of precisely who has witnessed what. In experiment 3 subordinates did not choose consistently between two pieces of hidden food, one of which dominants had seen hidden and one of which they had not seen hidden. However, their failure in this experiment was likely to be due to the changed nature of the competition under these circumstances and not to a failure of social-cognitive skills. These findings suggest that at least in some situations (i.e. competition with conspecifics) chimpanzees know what conspecifics have and have not seen (do and do not know), and that they use this information to devise effective social-cognitive strategies. Copyright 2001 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
Address (down) Department of Psychology and Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center, Emory University
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ISSN 0003-3472 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:11170704 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 588
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Author Buttelmann, D.; Call, J.; Tomasello, M.
Title Behavioral cues that great apes use to forage for hidden food Type Journal Article
Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.
Volume Issue Pages
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Abstract We conducted three studies to examine whether the four great ape species (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans) are able to use behavioral experimenter-given cues in an object-choice task. In the subsequent experimental conditions subjects were presented with two eggs, one of which contained food and the other did not. In Study 1 the experimenter examined both eggs by smelling or shaking them, but only made a failed attempt to open (via biting) the egg containing food. In a control condition, the experimenter examined and attempted to open both eggs, but in reverse order to control for stimulus enhancement. The apes significantly preferred the egg that was first examined and then bitten, but had no preference in a baseline condition in which there were no cues. In Study 2, we investigated whether the apes could extend this ability to cues not observed in apes so far (i.e., attempting to pull apart the egg), as well as whether they made this discrimination based on the function of the action the experimenter performed. Subjects significantly preferred eggs presented with this novel cue, but did not prefer eggs presented with a novel but functionally irrelevant action. In Study 3, apes did not interpret human actions as cues to food-location when they already knew that the eggs were empty. Thus, great apes were able to use a variety of experimenter-given cues associated with foraging actions to locate hidden food and thereby were partially sensitive to the general purpose underlying these actions.
Address (down) Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany, buttelmann@eva.mpg.de
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ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:17534674 Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2396
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Author Hare, B.; Brown, M.; Williamson, C.; Tomasello, M.
Title The domestication of social cognition in dogs Type Journal Article
Year 2002 Publication Science (New York, N.Y.) Abbreviated Journal Science
Volume 298 Issue 5598 Pages 1634-1636
Keywords Animals; *Animals, Domestic; *Behavior, Animal; *Cognition; *Cues; *Dogs; Food; Humans; Memory; Pan troglodytes; *Social Behavior; Species Specificity; Vision; Wolves
Abstract Dogs are more skillful than great apes at a number of tasks in which they must read human communicative signals indicating the location of hidden food. In this study, we found that wolves who were raised by humans do not show these same skills, whereas domestic dog puppies only a few weeks old, even those that have had little human contact, do show these skills. These findings suggest that during the process of domestication, dogs have been selected for a set of social-cognitive abilities that enable them to communicate with humans in unique ways.
Address (down) Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. bhare@fas.harvard.edu
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ISSN 1095-9203 ISBN Medium
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Notes PMID:12446914 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 595
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Author Melis, A.P.; Hare, B.; Tomasello, M.
Title Engineering cooperation in chimpanzees: tolerance constraints on cooperation Type Journal Article
Year 2006 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 72 Issue 2 Pages 275-286
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Abstract The cooperative abilities of captive chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, in experiments do not match the sophistication that might be predicted based on their naturally occurring cooperative behaviours. This discrepancy might partly be because in previous experiments potential chimpanzee cooperators were partnered without regard to their social relationship. We investigated the ability of chimpanzee dyads to solve a physical task cooperatively in relation to their interindividual tolerance levels. Pairs that were most capable of sharing food outside the test were also able to cooperate spontaneously (by simultaneously pulling two ropes) to obtain food. In contrast, pairs that were less inclined to share food outside of the test were unlikely to cooperate. Furthermore, previously successful subjects stopped cooperating when paired with a less tolerant partner, even when the food rewards were presented in a dispersed and divisible form to reduce competition between subjects. These results show that although chimpanzees are capable of spontaneous cooperation in a novel instrumental task, tolerance acts as a constraint on their ability to solve such cooperative problems. This finding highlights the importance of controlling such social constraints in future experiments on chimpanzee cooperation, and suggests that the evolution of human-like cooperative skills might have been preceded by the evolution of a more egalitarian social system and a more human-like temperament.
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Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 287
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Author Kaminski, J.; Riedel, J.; Call, J.; Tomasello, M.
Title Domestic goats, Capra hircus, follow gaze direction and use social cues in an object choice task Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 69 Issue 1 Pages 11-18
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Abstract Gaze following is a basic social cognitive skill with many potential benefits for animals that live in social groups. At least five primate species are known to follow the gaze of conspecifics, but there have been no studies on gaze following in other mammals. We investigated whether domestic goats can use the gaze direction of a conspecific as a cue to find food. They were able to do this, at a level comparable to that of primates. In a second experiment, we tested goats' ability to use gaze and other communicative cues given by a human in a so-called object choice situation. An experimenter hid food out of sight of the subject under one of two cups. After baiting the cup the experimenter indicated the location of the food to the subject by using different cues. The goats used communicative cues (touching and pointing) but not gaze by itself. Since domestic dogs are very skilled in this task, whereas wolves are not, one hypothesis is that the use of communicative cues in the object choice task is a side-effect of domestication.
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Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 542
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Author Hare, B.; Tomasello, M.
Title Chimpanzees are more skilful in competitive than in cooperative cognitive tasks Type Journal Article
Year 2004 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 68 Issue 3 Pages 571-581
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Abstract In a series of four experiments, chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, were given two cognitive tasks, an object choice task and a discrimination task (based on location), each in the context of either cooperation or competition. In both tasks chimpanzees performed more skilfully when competing than when cooperating, with some evidence that competition with conspecifics was especially facilitatory in the discrimination location task. This is the first study to demonstrate a facilitative cognitive effect for competition in a single experimental paradigm. We suggest that chimpanzee cognitive evolution is best understood in its socioecological context.
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Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 584
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Author Tomasello, M.; Hare, B.; Agnetta, B.
Title Chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, follow gaze direction geometrically Type Journal Article
Year 1999 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 58 Issue 4 Pages 769-777
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Abstract Two experiments on chimpanzee gaze following are reported. In the first, chimpanzee subjects watched as a human experimenter looked around various types of barriers. The subjects looked around each of the barriers more when the human had done so than in a control condition (in which the human looked in another direction). In the second experiment, chimpanzees watched as a human looked towards the back of their cage. As they turned to follow the human's gaze a distractor object was presented. The chimpanzees looked at the distractor while still following the human's gaze to the back of the cage. These two experiments effectively disconfirm the low-level model of chimpanzee gaze following in which it is claimed that upon seeing another animate being's gaze direction chimpanzees simply turn in that direction and look around for something interesting. Rather, they support the hypothesis that chimpanzees follow the gaze direction of other animate beings geometrically to specific locations, in much the same way as human infants. The degree to which chimpanzees have a mentalistic interpretation of the gaze and/or visual experience of others is still an open question.
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Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 587
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Author Hare, B.; Addessi, E.; Call, J.; Tomasello, M.; Visalberghi, E.
Title Do capuchin monkeys, Cebus apella, know what conspecifics do and do not see? Type Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 65 Issue 1 Pages 131-142
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Abstract Capuchin monkeys were tested in five experiments in which two individuals competed over food. When given a choice between retrieving a piece of food that was visible or hidden from the dominant, subordinate animals preferred to retrieve hidden food. This preference is consistent with the hypotheses that either (1) the subordinate knew what the dominant could and could not see or (2) the subordinate was monitoring the behaviour of the dominant and avoiding the piece of food that it approached. To test between these alternatives, we released subordinates with a slight head start forcing them to make their choice (between a piece of food hidden or visible to the dominant) before the dominant entered the area. Unlike chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, subordinates that were given a head start did not preferentially approach hidden pieces of food first. Therefore, our experiments provide little support for the hypothesis that capuchin monkeys are sensitive to what another individual does or does not see. We compare our results with those obtained with chimpanzees in the same paradigm and discuss the evolution of primate social cognition. Copyright 2003 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 586
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Author Hare, B.; Call, J.; Agnetta, B.; Tomasello, M.
Title Chimpanzees know what conspecifics do and do not see Type Journal Article
Year 2000 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 59 Issue 4 Pages 771-785
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Abstract We report a series of experiments on social problem solving in chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes. In each experiment a subordinate and a dominant individual were put into competition over two pieces of food. In all experiments dominants obtained virtually all of the foods to which they had good visual and physical access. However, subordinates were successful quite often in three situations in which they had better visual access to the food than the dominant, for example, when the food was positioned so that only the subordinate (and not the dominant) could see it. In some cases, the subordinate might have been monitoring the behaviour of the dominant directly and simply avoided the food that the dominant was moving towards (which just happened to be the one it could see). In other cases, however, we ruled out this possibility by giving subordinates a small headstart and forcing them to make their choice (to go to the food that both competitors could see, or the food that only they could see) before the dominant was released into the area. Together with other recent studies, the present investigation suggests that chimpanzees know what conspecifics can and cannot see, and, furthermore, that they use this knowledge to devise effective social-cognitive strategies in naturally occurring food competition situations.
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Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 585
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Author Byrnl, R.W.; Tomasello, M.
Title Do rats ape? Type Journal Article
Year 1995 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.
Volume 50 Issue 5 Pages 1417-1420
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Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 589
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