Great apes generate goal-based action predictions : an eye-tracking study
Date
27/09/2014Keywords
Metadata
Show full item recordAltmetrics Handle Statistics
Altmetrics DOI Statistics
Abstract
To examine great apes’ on-line prediction of other individuals’ actions, we used an eye-tracking technique and an experimental paradigm previously used to test human infants. Twenty-two great apes, including bonobos, chimpanzees, and orangutans, were familiarized to movie clips of a human hand reaching to grasp one of two objects. Then the objects’ locations were swapped, and in the test event, the hand made an incomplete reach between the objects. In a control condition, a mechanical claw performed the same actions. The apes predictively looked at the familiarized goal object rather than the familiarized location when viewing the hand action in the test event. However, they made no prediction when viewing the claw action. These results are similar to those reported previously for human infants, and predictive looking did not differ among the three species of great apes. Thus, great apes make on-line goal-based predictions about the actions of other individuals; this skill is not unique to humans but is shared more widely among primates.
Citation
Kano , F & Call , J 2014 , ' Great apes generate goal-based action predictions : an eye-tracking study ' , Psychological Science , vol. 25 , no. 9 , pp. 1691-1698 . https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614536402
Publication
Psychological Science
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0956-7976Type
Journal article
Rights
© The Authors 2014. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797614536402
Collections
Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.