toggle visibility Search & Display Options

Select All    Deselect All
 |   | 
Details
   print
  Records Links
Author Bering, J.M. doi  openurl
  Title A critical review of the “enculturation hypothesis”: the effects of human rearing on great ape social cognition Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume (down) 7 Issue 4 Pages 201-212  
  Keywords Animals; *Cognition; *Culture; Hominidae/*psychology; Humans; *Imitative Behavior; Imprinting (Psychology); *Intention; Macaca; Psychological Theory; Social Behavior; *Social Environment; Species Specificity  
  Abstract Numerous investigators have argued that early ontogenetic immersion in sociocultural environments facilitates cognitive developmental change in human-reared great apes more characteristic of Homo sapiens than of their own species. Such revamping of core, species-typical psychological systems might be manifest, according to this argument, in the emergence of mental representational competencies, a set of social cognitive skills theoretically consigned to humans alone. Human-reared great apes' capacity to engage in “true imitation,” in which both the means and ends of demonstrated actions are reproduced with fairly high rates of fidelity, and laboratory great apes' failure to do so, has frequently been interpreted as reflecting an emergent understanding of intentionality in the former. Although this epigenetic model of the effects of enculturation on social cognitive systems may be well-founded and theoretically justified in the biological literature, alternative models stressing behavioral as opposed to representational change have been largely overlooked. Here I review some of the controversy surrounding enculturation in great apes, and present an alternative nonmentalistic version of the enculturation hypothesis that can also account for enhanced imitative performance on object-oriented problem-solving tasks in human-reared animals.  
  Address Department of Psychology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA. jbering@uark.edu  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:15004739 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2543  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Sousa, C.; Okamoto, S.; Matsuzawa, T. doi  openurl
  Title Behavioural development in a matching-to-sample task and token use by an infant chimpanzee reared by his mother Type Journal Article
  Year 2003 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume (down) 6 Issue 4 Pages 259-267  
  Keywords Animals; *Cognition; *Discrimination Learning; Female; *Imitative Behavior; Male; Mothers/*psychology; Pan troglodytes/*growth & development/*psychology; *Transfer (Psychology)  
  Abstract We investigated the behavioural and cognitive development of a captive male infant chimpanzee, Ayumu, raised by his mother, Ai. Here we report Ayumu's achievements up to the age of 2 years and 3 months, in the context of complex computer-controlled tasks. From soon after birth, Ayumu had been present during an experiment performed by his mother. The task consisted of two phases, a matching-to-sample task in which she received token rewards, and the insertion of these tokens into a vending machine to obtain food rewards. Ayumu himself received no reward or encouragement from humans for any of the actions he exhibited during the experiment. At the age of 9 months and 3 weeks, Ayumu performed his first matching-to-sample trial. At around 1 year and 3 months, he began to perform them consistently. Also during this period, he frequently stole food rewards from his mother. At 2 years and 3 months, Ayumu succeeded for the first time in inserting a token into the vending machine. Once he had succeeded in using a token, he performed both phases of the task in sequence 20 times consecutively. The infant's behaviour was not shaped by food rewards but by a strong motivation to copy his mother's behaviour. Our observations of Ayumu thus mirror the learning processes shown by wild chimpanzees.  
  Address Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama Aichi 484-8506, Japan. csousa@fcsh.unl.pt  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:13680400 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2556  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Biro, D.; Inoue-Nakamura, N.; Tonooka, R.; Yamakoshi, G.; Sousa, C.; Matsuzawa, T. doi  openurl
  Title Cultural innovation and transmission of tool use in wild chimpanzees: evidence from field experiments Type Journal Article
  Year 2003 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume (down) 6 Issue 4 Pages 213-223  
  Keywords Animals; Cooking and Eating Utensils; *Culture; *Diffusion of Innovation; *Feeding Behavior/psychology; Female; Functional Laterality; *Imitative Behavior; Male; Motor Skills; Pan troglodytes/*psychology; *Social Environment  
  Abstract Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are the most proficient and versatile users of tools in the wild. How such skills become integrated into the behavioural repertoire of wild chimpanzee communities is investigated here by drawing together evidence from three complementary approaches in a group of oil-palm nut- ( Elaeis guineensis) cracking chimpanzees at Bossou, Guinea. First, extensive surveys of communities adjacent to Bossou have shown that population-specific details of tool use, such as the selection of species of nuts as targets for cracking, cannot be explained purely on the basis of ecological differences. Second, a 16-year longitudinal record tracing the development of nut-cracking in individual chimpanzees has highlighted the importance of a critical period for learning (3-5 years of age), while the similar learning contexts experienced by siblings have been found to result in near-perfect (13 out of 14 dyads) inter-sibling correspondence in laterality. Third, novel data from field experiments involving the introduction of unfamiliar species of nuts to the Bossou group illuminates key aspects of both cultural innovation and transmission. We show that responses of individuals toward the novel items differ markedly with age, with juveniles being the most likely to explore. Furthermore, subjects are highly specific in their selection of conspecifics as models for observation, attending to the nut-cracking activities of individuals in the same age group or older, but not younger than themselves. Together with the phenomenon of inter-community migration, these results demonstrate a mechanism for the emergence of culture in wild chimpanzees.  
  Address Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Japan. dora.biro@zoology.oxford.ac.uk  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Springer-Verlag Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12898285 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2560  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Ray, E.D.; Heyes, C.M. doi  openurl
  Title Do rats in a two-action test encode movement egocentrically or allocentrically? Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume (down) 5 Issue 4 Pages 245-252  
  Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Discrimination Learning; *Imitative Behavior; Male; Random Allocation; Rats/physiology/*psychology; Smell  
  Abstract Two-action tests of imitation compare groups that observe topographically different responses to a common manipulandum. The general aim of the two experiments reported here was to find a demonstrator-consistent responding effect in a procedure that could be elaborated to investigate aspects of what was learned about the demonstrated lever response. Experiment 1 was a pilot study with rats of a variant of the two-action method of investigating social learning about observed responses. Groups of observer rats ( Rattus norvegicus) saw a demonstrator push a lever up or down for a food reward. When these observers were subsequently given access to the lever and rewarded for responses in both directions, their directional preferences were compared with two 'screen control' groups that were unable to see their demonstrators' behaviour. Demonstrator-consistent responding was found to be restricted to observers that were able to see demonstrator performance, suggesting that scent cues alone were insufficient to cue a preference for the demonstrators' response direction and thereby that the rats learned by observation about body movements (imitation) or lever movement (emulation). Experiment 2 assessed responding on two levers, one that had been manipulated by the demonstrator, and a second, transposed lever positioned some distance away. Demonstrator-consistent responding was abolished when actions were observed and performed in different parts of the apparatus, suggesting that observed movement was encoded allocentrically with respect to the apparatus rather than egocentrically with respect to the actor's body. With particular reference to the influence of scent cues, the results are discussed in relation to the strengths and weaknesses of this and other varieties of the two-action procedure as tests of imitation in animals and human infants.  
  Address Department of Psychology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK. e.ray@ucl.ac.uk  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12461602 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2588  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Caldwell, C.A.; Whiten, A. doi  openurl
  Title Evolutionary perspectives on imitation: is a comparative psychology of social learning possible? Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume (down) 5 Issue 4 Pages 193-208  
  Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Evolution; Humans; *Imitative Behavior; Learning; Models, Animal  
  Abstract Studies of imitation in animals have become numerous in recent times, but do they contribute to a comparative psychology of social learning? We review this burgeoning field to identify the problems and prospects for such a goal. Difficulties of two main kinds are identified. First, researchers have tackled questions about social learning from at least three very different theoretical perspectives, the “phylogenetic”, “animal model”, and “adaptational”. We examine the conflicts between them and consider the scope for integration. A second difficulty arises in the methodological approaches used in the discipline. In relation to one of these – survey reviews of published studies – we tabulate and compare the contrasting conclusions of nine articles that together review 36 studies. The basis for authors' disagreements, including the matters of perceptual opacity, novelty, sequential structure, and goal representation, are examined. In relation to the other key method, comparative experimentation, we identify 12 studies that have explicitly compared species' imitative ability on similar tasks. We examine the principal problems of comparing like with like in these studies and consider solutions, the most powerful of which we propose to be the use of a systematic range of task designs, rather than any single “gold standard” task.  
  Address School of Psychology, Washington Singer Laboratories, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QG, UK. C.A.Caldwell@exeter.ac.uk  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12461597 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2593  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Bjorklund, D.F.; Yunger, J.L.; Bering, J.M.; Ragan, P. doi  openurl
  Title The generalization of deferred imitation in enculturated chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume (down) 5 Issue 1 Pages 49-58  
  Keywords Age Factors; Animals; Behavior, Animal; Humans; *Imitative Behavior; Pan troglodytes/physiology/*psychology; Parenting; Species Specificity  
  Abstract Deferred imitation of object-related actions and generalization of imitation to similar but not identical tasks was assessed in three human-reared (enculturated) chimpanzees, ranging in age from 5 to 9 years. Each ape displayed high levels of deferred imitation and only slightly lower levels of generalization of imitation. The youngest two chimpanzees were more apt to generalize the model's actions when they had displayed portions of the target behaviors at baseline, consistent with the idea that learning is more likely to occur when working within the “zone of proximal development.” We argue that generalization of imitation is the best evidence to date of imitative learning in chimpanzees.  
  Address Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL 33431-0991, USA. dbjorklund@fau.edu  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:11957402 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2610  
Permanent link to this record
Select All    Deselect All
 |   | 
Details
   print