Relational Spatial Reasoning by a Nonhuman: The Example of Capuchin Monkeys

Fragaszy, Dorothy M.; Cummins-Sebree, Sarah

doi:10.1177/1534582306286573

Cited by 43 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 88 publications

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“…The visual–spatial working memories of monkeys have been found to be well-structured in spatial reasoning [169] and in sequences of abstract reasoning [170]. Therefore, as Aboitiz et al [140], Vandervert [171–174], and Vandervert et al [175] have suggested, the evolution of language would be most profitably studied as a direct adaptive extension of structured and sequential brain mechanisms which sub-serve cognitive visual–spatial working memory in nonhuman primates and early hominins.…”

Section: How the Cerebro-cerebellar Blending Of Visual–spatial Workinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consensus Paper: The Cerebellum's Role in Movement and Cognition

Koziol¹,

Budding²,

Andreasen³

et al. 2013

Cerebellum

886

586

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While the cerebellum's role in motor function is well recognized, the nature of its concurrent role in cognitive function remains considerably less clear. The current consensus paper gathers diverse views on a variety of important roles played by the cerebellum across a range of cognitive and emotional functions. This paper considers the cerebellum in relation to neurocognitive development, language function, working memory, executive function, and the development of cerebellar internal control models and reflects upon some of the ways in which better understanding the cerebellum's status as a “supervised learning machine” can enrich our ability to understand human function and adaptation. As all contributors agree that the cerebellum plays a role in cognition, there is also an agreement that this conclusion remains highly inferential. Many conclusions about the role of the cerebellum in cognition originate from applying known information about cerebellar contributions to the coordination and quality of movement. These inferences are based on the uniformity of the cerebellum's compositional infrastructure and its apparent modular organization. There is considerable support for this view, based upon observations of patients with pathology within the cerebellum.

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Section: How the Cerebro-cerebellar Blending Of Visual–spatial Workinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consensus Paper: The Cerebellum's Role in Movement and Cognition

Koziol¹,

Budding²,

Andreasen³

et al. 2013

Cerebellum

886

586

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…They appear to have particular interest in producing certain kinds of spatial relations between objects and surfaces [Fragaszy & Cummins-Sebree, 2005]. We included actions combining objects or acting on a substrate in the demonstrated repertoire for our capuchin subjects on the expectation that these actions would be intrinsically interesting to the monkeys and that actions that occur with no reference to an external object (gestures) should hold less interest for them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When and how well can human‐socialized capuchins match actions demonstrated by a familiar human?

Fragaszy

Deputte²,

Cooper

et al. 2011

American J Primatol

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Capuchin monkeys have provided uneven evidence of matching actions they observe others perform. In accord with theories emphasizing the attentional salience of object movement and spatial relationships, we predicted that human-reared monkeys would better match events in which a human demonstrator moved an object into a new relation with another object or surface than other kinds of actions. Three human-reared capuchins were invited repeatedly by a familiar human to perform a fixed set of actions upon objects or upon their bodies, using the "Do as I do" procedure. Actions directed at the body were matched less reliably than actions involving objects, and actions were matched best when the monkey looked at the demonstration for at least 2 sec and performed its action within a few seconds after the demonstration. The most commonly matched actions were those that one monkey performed relatively often when the experiment began. One monkey partially reproduced three novel actions (out of 48 demonstrations), all three involving moving or placing objects, and two of which it also performed following other demonstrations. These findings contribute convergent evidence that capuchin monkeys display social facilitation of activity, enhanced interest in particular objects and emulation of spatial outcomes. This pattern can support the development of shared manipulative skills, as evident in traditions of foraging and tool use in natural settings. The findings do not suggest that human rearing substantively altered capuchins' ability or interest in matching the actions of a familiar human, although visual attention to the human demonstrator may have been greater in these monkeys than in normally reared monkeys.

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“…Using most common hand tools takes humans years of practice to master (for example, scissors or cutlery). Managing multiple degrees of freedom inherent in using tools is more challenging for non-human primates than for humans [19,39]. Thus, we should expect that they need more practice than humans to master a similar problem.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The fourth dimension of tool use: temporally enduring artefacts aid primates learning to use tools

Fragaszy

Biro

Eshchar

et al. 2013

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

159

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All investigated cases of habitual tool use in wild chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys include youngsters encountering durable artefacts, most often in a supportive social context. We propose that enduring artefacts associated with tool use, such as previously used tools, partly processed food items and residual material from previous activity, aid non-human primates to learn to use tools, and to develop expertise in their use, thus contributing to traditional technologies in non-humans. Therefore, social contributions to tool use can be considered as situated in the three dimensions of Euclidean space, and in the fourth dimension of time. This notion expands the contribution of social context to learning a skill beyond the immediate presence of a model nearby. We provide examples supporting this hypothesis from wild bearded capuchin monkeys and chimpanzees, and suggest avenues for future research.

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Relational Spatial Reasoning by a Nonhuman: The Example of Capuchin Monkeys

Cited by 43 publications

References 88 publications

Consensus Paper: The Cerebellum's Role in Movement and Cognition

Consensus Paper: The Cerebellum's Role in Movement and Cognition

When and how well can human‐socialized capuchins match actions demonstrated by a familiar human?

The fourth dimension of tool use: temporally enduring artefacts aid primates learning to use tools

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