Imitative learning of artificial fruit processing in children (Homo sapiens) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

Abstract

Observational learning in chimpanzees and young children was investigated using an artificial fruit designed as an analog of natural foraging problems faced by primates. Each of 3 principal components could be removed in 2 alternative ways, demonstration of only one of which was watched by each subject. This permitted subsequent imitation by subjects to be distinguished from stimulus enhancement. Children aged 2-4 years evidenced imitation for 2 components, but also achieved demonstrated outcomes through their own techniques. Chimpanzees relied even more on their own techniques, but they did imitate elements of 1 component of the task. To our knowledge, this is the first experimental evidence of chimpanzee imitation in a functional task designed to simulate foraging behavior hypothesized to be transmitted culturally in the wild.

Fish cognition: a primate's eye view

“…Assuming that every additional skill needs an increase in neocortex size, the additive effects of computational power might even have led to fulguration (Lorenz 1973), the occurrence of a new system of traits that is not predictable from the traits themselves. Probably the most prominent topics in this context are currently theory of mind (Premack and Woodruff 1978) and imitation learning (Whiten et al 1996).…”

“…Recently researchers have explicitly tried to design experimental setups that allowed them to distinguish between imitation learning and stimulus enhancement (Whiten et al 1996), but it might be difficult to come up with simple explanations as 'null hypotheses' for observed behavioural skills. This is where we think that primatology can profit directly from cognitive research in other, supposedly less sophisticated taxa like fish.…”

“…This extreme approach certainly does not hold up in light of current evidence (Macintosh et al 1985;, but the notion that differences are quantitative rather than qualitative, at least among vertebrates, seems fairly solid. We are aware of only one experimentally shown qualitative difference in mechanisms between primates and fish, and this difference is the ability to imitate (Whiten et al 1996;Voelkl and Huber 2000).…”

Towards a unified science of cultural evolution

“…successful cultural traits has been demonstrated in numerous studies of the transmission of skills and beliefs in traditional societies (e.g., Cavalli-Sforza, Feldman, Chen & Dornbusch 1982;Hewlett & Cavalli-Sforza 1986) and in studies of social learning in children (e.g., Bandura 1977;Whiten et al 1996).…”

“…Developmental psychologists have demonstrated high-fidelity imitation by subjects of the behaviour of a model, from Bandura's classic studies on aggression (e.g., Bandura et al 1961) through to comparative studies of observational learning in children and chimpanzees Nagell et al 1993;Whiten 1998;Whiten et al 1996;Whiten et al, in press), and the role of pedagogy in cultural transmission (Csibra & Gergely 2005;Gergely & Csibra 2006;Wood et al 1976). Other studies have tracked the transmission of text along linear chains of participants (Bangerter 2000;Kashima 2000;Mesoudi et al, 2006).…”