Why human environments enhance animal capacities to use objects : evidence from keas (Nestor notabilis) and apes (Gorilla gorilla, Pan paniscus, Pongo abelii, Pongo pygmaeus)
Abstract
Formal training programs, which can be called education, enhance cognition in human and nonhuman animals alike. However, even informal exposure to human contact in human environments can enhance cognition. We review selected literature to compare animals’ behavior with objects among keas and great apes, the taxa that best allow systematic comparison of the behavior of wild animals with that of those in human environments such as homes, zoos, and rehabilitation centers. In all cases, we find that animals in human environments do much more with objects. Following and expanding on the explanations of several previous authors, we propose that living in human environments and the opportunities to observe and manipulate human-made objects help to develop motor skills, embodied cognition, and the use of objects to extend cognition in the animals. Living in a human world also furnishes the animals with more time for such activities, in that the time needed for foraging for food is reduced, and furnishes opportunities for social learning, including emulation, an attempt to achieve the goals of a model, and program-level imitation, in which the imitator reproduces the organizational structure of goal-directed actions without necessarily copying all the details. All these factors let these animals learn about the affordances of many objects and make them better able to come up with solutions to physical problems.
Citation
Cheng , K & Byrne , R W 2018 , ' Why human environments enhance animal capacities to use objects : evidence from keas ( Nestor notabilis ) and apes ( Gorilla gorilla , Pan paniscus , Pongo abelii , Pongo pygmaeus ) ' , Journal of Comparative Psychology , vol. Advance Online . https://doi.org/10.1037/com0000121
Publication
Journal of Comparative Psychology
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0735-7036Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2018 American Psychological Association. This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created accepted version manuscript following peer review and as such may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1037/com0000121
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