Are we humans simply remodelled apes? Chimps with a tweak? Is the difference between our genomes so minuscule it justifies the argument that our cognition and behaviour must also differ from chimps by barely a whisker? If “chimps are us” should we grant them human rights? Or is this one of the biggest fallacies in the study of evolution? NOT A CHIMP argues that these similarities have been grossly over-exaggerated - we should keep chimps at arm’s length. Are humans cognitively unique after all?
Saturday, 11 June 2011
Study shows chimps capable of insightful reasoning ability
Shortly after NOT A CHIMP was published, Nathan Emery produced a finding that the corvid birds he was studying were able to solve the Archimedes principle that buoyancy is related to water displacement. They soon learned that by plopping pebbles into a container of water containing floating food, the water level, and thus the food, would rise to a level at which they could retrieve it in their beaks. Now researchers at the Max Planck in Leipzig have found chimps are capable of the same level of insight in that they learned that by using water from a nearby pitcher to add to a container in which food was floating out of reach, they could bring the water level up to the point at which they could get at the food. 1-1 chimps v. corvids!
Friday, 10 June 2011
Canine telepathy? Study explores how dogs think and learn about human behavior
Another piece of research on social cognition in dogs and wolves entirely consistent with my conclusions in NOT A CHIMP.
"Udell and team carried out two experiments comparing the performance of pet domestic dogs, shelter dogs and wolves given the oportunity to beg for food, from either an attentive person or from a person unable to see the animal. They wanted to know whether the rearing and living envi-ronment of the animal (shelter or human home), or the species itself (dog or wolf), had the greater impact on the animal's performance.
They showed, for the first time that wolves, like domestic dogs, are capable of begging successfully for food by approaching the attentive human. This demonstrates that both species - domesticated and non-domesticated - have the capacity to behave in accordance with a human's attentional state. In addition, both wolves and pet dogs were able to rapidly improve their performance with practice.
The authors also found that dogs were not sensitive to all visual cues of a human's attention in the same way. In particular, dogs from a home environment rather than a shelter were more sensitive to stimuli predicting attentive humans. Those dogs with less regular exposure to humans performed badly on the begging task.
According to the researchers, "These results suggest that dogs' ability to follow human actions stems from a willingness to accept humans as social companions, combined with conditioning to follow the limbs and actions of humans to acquire reinforcement. The type of attentional cues, the context in which the command is presented, and previous experience are all important.""
"Udell and team carried out two experiments comparing the performance of pet domestic dogs, shelter dogs and wolves given the oportunity to beg for food, from either an attentive person or from a person unable to see the animal. They wanted to know whether the rearing and living envi-ronment of the animal (shelter or human home), or the species itself (dog or wolf), had the greater impact on the animal's performance.
They showed, for the first time that wolves, like domestic dogs, are capable of begging successfully for food by approaching the attentive human. This demonstrates that both species - domesticated and non-domesticated - have the capacity to behave in accordance with a human's attentional state. In addition, both wolves and pet dogs were able to rapidly improve their performance with practice.
The authors also found that dogs were not sensitive to all visual cues of a human's attention in the same way. In particular, dogs from a home environment rather than a shelter were more sensitive to stimuli predicting attentive humans. Those dogs with less regular exposure to humans performed badly on the begging task.
According to the researchers, "These results suggest that dogs' ability to follow human actions stems from a willingness to accept humans as social companions, combined with conditioning to follow the limbs and actions of humans to acquire reinforcement. The type of attentional cues, the context in which the command is presented, and previous experience are all important.""
New study of crows and parrots highlights different types of intelligence
A very nice news item about recent work with two kinds of intelligent birds - New Caledonian crows and keas (a type of parrot). The news of both species' extremely intelligent approach to liberating food from a see-through box will come as no surprise to readers of NOT A CHIMP, but what is especially interesting here is that both species managed all four grades of problem to access food, but in different ways. The keas barged in and only resorted to the clever stuff once strong-beak tactics failed, whereas the crows started out smartly and dexterously but with that cautious look over the shoulder of a species that is long used to being spied upon by con-specifics.
The food was placed on a small pillar, mounted on a 45% slanting base such that any food on the pillar would roll out the front of the box if dislodged. The simplest task required the birds to tug on a string which was attached to the food through a hole in the wall of the box. The second task required the birds to push a small ball down a tube such that it fell and knocked the food off the plinth. The third task involved manipulating a stick through a narrow hole in the side of the box and the fourth task required the birds to understand that they had to lift a flap in the wall of the box by gripping a hook attached to it.
The research was a collaboration between Dr. Alice Auersperg of the University of Vienna, and Alex Kacelnik's lab in Oxford.
The food was placed on a small pillar, mounted on a 45% slanting base such that any food on the pillar would roll out the front of the box if dislodged. The simplest task required the birds to tug on a string which was attached to the food through a hole in the wall of the box. The second task required the birds to push a small ball down a tube such that it fell and knocked the food off the plinth. The third task involved manipulating a stick through a narrow hole in the side of the box and the fourth task required the birds to understand that they had to lift a flap in the wall of the box by gripping a hook attached to it.
The research was a collaboration between Dr. Alice Auersperg of the University of Vienna, and Alex Kacelnik's lab in Oxford.