Evidence for Emulation in Chimpanzees in Social Settings Using the Floating Peanut Task 英文参考文献.docVIP

EvidenceforEmulationinChimpanzeesinSocialSettings UsingtheFloatingPeanutTask ClaudioTennie*,JosepCall,MichaelTomasello DepartmentofDevelopmentalandComparativePsychology,MaxPlanckInstituteforEvolutionaryAnthropology,Leipzig,Germany Abstract Background: It is still unclear which observational learning mechanisms underlie the transmission of difficult problem- solving skills in chimpanzees. In particular, two different mechanisms have been proposed: imitation and emulation. Previousstudieshavelargelyfailedtocontrolforsocialfactorswhenthesemechanismsweretargeted. Methods:Inanattempttoresolvetheexistingdiscrepancies,weadoptedthe‘floatingpeanuttask’,inwhichsubjectsneed to spit water into a tube until it is sufficiently full for floating peanuts to be grasped. In a previous study only a few chimpanzees were able to invent the necessary solution (and they either did so in their first trials or never). Here we comparedsuccesslevelsinbaselinetestswithtwoexperimentalconditionsthatfollowed:1)Afullmodelconditiontotest whether social demonstrations would be effective, and 2) A social emulation control condition, in which a human experimenter poured water from a bottle into the tube, to test whether results information alone (present in both experimental conditions) would also induce successes. Crucially, we controlled for social factors in both experimental conditions. Both types of demonstrations significantly increased successful spitting, with no differences between demonstration types. We also found that younger subjects were more likely to succeed than older ones. Our analysis showedthatmereordereffectscouldnotexplainourresults. Conclusion:Thefulldemonstrationcondition(whichpotentiallyoffersadditionalinformationtoobservers,intheformof actions),inducednomoresuccessesthantheemulationcondition.Hence,emulationlearningcouldexplainthesuccessin bothconditions.Thisfindinghasbroadimplicationsfortheinterpretationofchimpanzeetraditions,forwhichemulation learningmayperhapssuffice. Ci