The role of past interactions in great apes' communication about absent entities
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
Standard
In: Journal of Comparative Psychology, Vol. 130, No. 4, 01.11.2016, p. 351-357.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of past interactions in great apes' communication about absent entities
AU - Bohn, Manuel
AU - Call, Josep
AU - Tomasello, Michael
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2016 American Psychological Association.
PY - 2016/11/1
Y1 - 2016/11/1
N2 - Recent evidence suggests that great apes can use the former location of an entity to communicate about it. In this study we built on these findings to investigate the social-cognitive foundations of great apes' communicative abilities. We tested whether great apes (n = 35) would adjust their requests for absent entities to previous interactions they had with their interlocutor. We manipulated the apes' experience with respect to the interlocutor's knowledge about the previous content of the now-empty location as well as their experience with the interlocutor's competence to provide additional food items. We found that apes adjusted their requests to both of these aspects but failed to integrate them with one another. These results demonstrate a surprising amount of flexibility in great apes' communicative abilities while at the same time suggesting some important limitations in their social communicative skills.
AB - Recent evidence suggests that great apes can use the former location of an entity to communicate about it. In this study we built on these findings to investigate the social-cognitive foundations of great apes' communicative abilities. We tested whether great apes (n = 35) would adjust their requests for absent entities to previous interactions they had with their interlocutor. We manipulated the apes' experience with respect to the interlocutor's knowledge about the previous content of the now-empty location as well as their experience with the interlocutor's competence to provide additional food items. We found that apes adjusted their requests to both of these aspects but failed to integrate them with one another. These results demonstrate a surprising amount of flexibility in great apes' communicative abilities while at the same time suggesting some important limitations in their social communicative skills.
KW - Psychology
KW - Common ground
KW - Communication
KW - Displacement
KW - Great apes
KW - Social cognition
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84989183162&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/com0000042
DO - 10.1037/com0000042
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 27690504
AN - SCOPUS:84989183162
VL - 130
SP - 351
EP - 357
JO - Journal of Comparative Psychology
JF - Journal of Comparative Psychology
SN - 0735-7036
IS - 4
ER -