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dc.contributor.authorTennie, Claudio
dc.contributor.authorCall, Josep
dc.contributor.authorTomasello, Michael
dc.date.accessioned2014-04-25T10:01:03Z
dc.date.available2014-04-25T10:01:03Z
dc.date.issued2012-08-08
dc.identifier104084061
dc.identifier2c0deeaf-f2bd-475d-8d1e-edaa927eded7
dc.identifier000307331100013
dc.identifier84864685106
dc.identifier.citationTennie , C , Call , J & Tomasello , M 2012 , ' Untrained  chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii ) fail to imitate novel actions ' , PLoS One , vol. 7 , no. 8 , 41548 . https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0041548en
dc.identifier.issn1932-6203
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0002-8597-8336/work/37478045
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10023/4609
dc.descriptionNo special funding was needed for this study. Costs were covered by our institute, which had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.en
dc.description.abstractBackground: Social learning research in apes has focused on social learning in the technical (problem solving) domain - an approach that confounds action and physical information. Successful subjects in such studies may have been able to perform target actions not as a result of imitation learning but because they had learnt some technical aspect, for example, copying the movements of an apparatus (i.e., different forms of emulation learning). Methods: Here we present data on action copying by non-enculturated and untrained chimpanzees when physical information is removed from demonstrations. To date, only one such study (on gesture copying in a begging context) has been conducted - with negative results. Here we have improved this methodology and have also added non-begging test situations (a possible confound of the earlier study). Both familiar and novel actions were used as targets. Prior to testing, a trained conspecific demonstrator was rewarded for performing target actions in view of observers. All but one of the tested chimpanzees already failed to copy familiar actions. When retested with a novel target action, also the previously successful subject failed to copy - and he did so across several contexts. Conclusion: Chimpanzees do not seem to copy novel actions, and only some ever copy familiar ones. Due to our having tested only non-enculturated and untrained chimpanzees, the performance of our test subjects speak more than most other studies of the general (dis-)ability of chimpanzees to copy actions, and especially novel actions.
dc.format.extent19
dc.format.extent7490731
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofPLoS Oneen
dc.subjectCumulative Cultureen
dc.subjectEnculturated Chimpanzeesen
dc.subjectIntelligence Hypothesisen
dc.subjectSocial Cognitionen
dc.subjectWild Chimpanzeesen
dc.subjectTool-useen
dc.subjectTraditionsen
dc.subjectChildrenen
dc.subjectApesen
dc.subjectTransmissionen
dc.subjectQL Zoologyen
dc.subjectBF Psychologyen
dc.subject.lccQLen
dc.subject.lccBFen
dc.titleUntrained  chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) fail to imitate novel actionsen
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.doi10.1371/journal.pone.0041548
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden


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