February 3, 2025
3 I will read the smallest
Bonobos can know that humans do not know anything
The experiment indicates that Bonobos can understand that humans lack knowledge and turn in the right direction.
Some POW Bonobo recently faced a simple task. Find a delicious snack hidden under one of the three cups. Bonobo is a brain, so identifying the cup with a snack would not have been sweat.
But there was wrinkles. The monkey depended on humans to turn the correct cup upside down, not another member of his own species. Even worse, this person did not see where the food was placed. As a result, Bonobo took it to himself and pointed out the right cup to their human partner.
“Bonobo knew when the partner was ignorant. They actively communicated to confirm that their ignorant partners were still making the right choice.” Christopher Crupenier, an evolved cognitive scientist at Johns Hopkins University, who supported the experiment.
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Krupenye and his graduate student, Luke TownroW, explained BONOBOS’s actions in Journal today. Professional record of the US Science Academy。 Their discoveries provide a convincing evidence that the apes can guess somebody’s ignorance and act to eliminate confusion.
The ability to guess the mental state of others is often called the theory of mind. Humans use the theory of the mind to communicate and coordinate each other. For example, it helps to judge when and how to share your knowledge when someone lacks specific information.
Researchers suggest that chimpanzies and Bonobo, the closest evolution of humans, may have the theory of heart. However, according to the author, few people have examined this idea in a controlled experimental environment.
Krupenye and TownRow cooperated with three male Bonobo living in APE Cognition and Conservation Initiative, a research center of Demoin, Iowa. During the experiment, one of the male bonobo sits opposite Townloads as a TREAT run like grapes and peanuts. If TownRow is turned over on the correct cup, Bonobo will receive a reward.
In some exams, I was able to see Townloads under the cup. Others were blocked by cardboard. When the TREAT run was hidden, he waited for 10 seconds before turning the cup upside down.
Bonobo seemed to know when Townro was looking at Treat running. In the exam that he observed the arrangement of TREAT running, the ape was patiently waiting for him to turn the correct cup. However, in a trial where Townwow’s view was blocked, Bonobos was pointed to the right cup to fill him in what he missed. “They got a job right away and knew where to point,” said Townlook.
Bonobos’s oldest man, Kanji, was empirically gesture in his gesture and especially wise. Currently, 44 -year -old ape is always looking for delicious snacks. During the research, he hit the repeated destination, and with the attention of Townload, he secured his TREAT run.
Michael Tomasero, a comparative psychologist at the University of Duke, was not involved in new research, so chimpanzies can identify ignorance and consequently modify communication. In the 2012 paper, it was found that wild chimpanzees had created a vocalization to warn the groups who seemed to have not noticed a nearby snake. Similar abilities are also observed in human infants. “They point out that they are unfamiliar while others are still diapers,” Tomasero says.
This suggests that the ability to guess and act can go back to the last ancestors of Bonbo, who lived 8 to 6 million years ago. According to Laura Lewis, a biological anthropologist at the University of California Berkeley, this level is possible without language. “This discovery is that our great ape’s cousin represents both the knowledge and ignorance of other people, and uses these attributes to guide their communication behavior without the need for complex languages. I think Lewis, who was not involved in something new, said that he was the idea that he could do. study.
However, it is unknown whether the apes simply refer to securing the Treat running, or whether there is a great motivation for play. “Does Bonobo recognize that communication is changing someone’s mental state, or has it evolved after human evolution?” Krupenye says.
The team aims to ask this question in future work about Bonobo. However, these great apes, born in the Forest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are at risk for the loss and hunting of their habitat. Krupenye wants this work to emphasize how similar these apes are like us. “Bonobo plays an important role in helping to understand our location in nature,” he says.
