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dc.contributor.authorEbel, Sonja J.
dc.contributor.authorVölter, Christoph J.
dc.contributor.authorCall, Josep
dc.date.accessioned2021-04-19T16:30:02Z
dc.date.available2021-04-19T16:30:02Z
dc.date.issued2021-02-01
dc.identifier271535328
dc.identifierd217fba2-09ee-4906-af9b-cafb9ce644fb
dc.identifier85086854653
dc.identifier000618240600008
dc.identifier.citationEbel , S J , Völter , C J & Call , J 2021 , ' Prior experience mediates the usage of food items as tools in great apes ( Pan paniscus , Pan troglodytes , Gorilla gorilla , and Pongo abelii ) ' , Journal of Comparative Psychology , vol. 135 , no. 1 , pp. 64-73 . https://doi.org/10.1037/com0000236en
dc.identifier.issn0735-7036
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0002-8597-8336/work/85168122
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10023/23056
dc.description.abstractHumans use tools with specific functions to solve tasks more efficiently. However, functional specialization often comes at a cost: It can hinder the production of actions that are not usually performed with those tools, thus resulting in a fixation effect (functional fixedness). Little is known about whether our closest living relatives, the nonhuman great apes, are vulnerable to this detrimental effect of experience. We examined whether great apes from 4 species (N = 35) would become fixated on the familiar action with an object. More precisely, some subjects experienced a novel food item (grissini), either whole or broken into pieces, whereas others did not. Then, subjects faced a task that required them to use the food item to rake in an out-of-reach food reward. Results indicated that all 4 species could use a food item as a tool. Apes were more likely to do so in the first trial when they had not experienced the tool as food before, even though they tasted the food before using it as a tool. Orangutans and bonobos used the food item more often as a tool than chimpanzees. A preference test ruled out that performance was dependent on individual or species food preferences. Our results suggest that apes might have represented one object in two different ways (i.e., as "food" and as "tool") and then became fixated on one of these two representations. However, it is unclear whether the fixation occurred because of the item's prior function or its identity.
dc.format.extent10
dc.format.extent1003414
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofJournal of Comparative Psychologyen
dc.subjectEinstellung effecten
dc.subjectFunctional fixednessen
dc.subjectObject identityen
dc.subjectSelf-controlen
dc.subjectTool useen
dc.subjectBF Psychologyen
dc.subjectEcology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematicsen
dc.subjectPsychology (miscellaneous)en
dc.subjectNDASen
dc.subjectMCCen
dc.subject.lccBFen
dc.titlePrior experience mediates the usage of food items as tools in great apes (Pan paniscus, Pan troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla, and Pongo abelii)en
dc.typeJournal articleen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. School of Psychology and Neuroscienceen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Centre for Social Learning & Cognitive Evolutionen
dc.identifier.doi10.1037/com0000236
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.identifier.urlhttps://doi.org/10.1037/com0000236.suppen


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