Abstract
Tool use is observed and shared in animals with and without phylogenetic relationships. Therefore, tool use is an excellent behavioural model to explore dynamic relationships between animals’ physical and cognitive abilities and their environmental conditions. In this chapter, we will focus on tool use in primates, especially Japanese macaques and common marmosets, which have not been observed to use tools in the wild but can be trained to do so through appropriate behavioural training. This approach enables us to determine the conditions that are needed for acquisition, as well as the types of cognitive and neuronal characteristics that can be observed during and after the development of tool use. Several studies of Japanese macaques have indicated that they can be trained to use tools within a few weeks, suggesting that the behavioural and cognitive components for tool use were already present before training. The acquisition of tool use is supported by structural changes in several brain regions throughout training. Furthermore, through careful, step-by-step training, the use of tools to obtain visual cues, such as an endoscope, was successfully established for the first time in macaques. Japanese macaques exhibit different characteristics in the acquisition of tool use than common marmosets as marmosets required much longer periods of time, and they worked mainly according to their own motivation to use tools. These differences were reflected in structural changes in the brain. In the discussion, we will compare the tool use behaviours of primates and other species, particularly birds, to explore the possible physical, cognitive and environmental conditions for exhibiting tool use from a comparative perspective.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge Dr. Watanabe in Keio University for the support and advice of the studies presented here.
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Yamazaki, Y., Iriki, A. (2017). Behavioural, Cognitive and Neuronal Changes in the Acquisition of Tool Use. In: Watanabe, S., Hofman, M., Shimizu, T. (eds) Evolution of the Brain, Cognition, and Emotion in Vertebrates. Brain Science. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56559-8_8
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