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Do chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) understand single invisible displacement?

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Abstract

Previous research suggests that chimpanzees understand single invisible displacement. However, this Piagetian task may be solvable through the use of simple search strategies rather than through mentally representing the past trajectory of an object. Four control conditions were thus administered to two chimpanzees in order to separate associative search strategies from performance based on mental representation. Strategies involving experimenter cue-use, search at the last or first box visited by the displacement device, and search at boxes adjacent to the displacement device were systematically controlled for. Chimpanzees showed no indications of utilizing these simple strategies, suggesting that their capacity to mentally represent single invisible displacements is comparable to that of 18–24-month-old children.

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Notes

  1. An additional session was required to repeat 12 mistrials revealed when video footage was coded. These were trials involving experimenter error or ambiguous responses (e.g., the object became temporarily visible as the displacement device was inserted beneath the target box, or the research assistant had failed to notice that the subject was not attending to the displacement). This session occurred 4 months later.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (DP0208300) awarded to Thomas Suddendorf. We sincerely thank the Rockhampton Botanical Gardens and Zoo for allowing us to use their facilities and work with Cassie and Ockie. These experiments comply with the current laws of Australia regarding the use of animals in research

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  1. Early Cognitive Development Unit, School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia

    Emma Collier-Baker, Joanne M. Davis, Mark Nielsen & Thomas Suddendorf

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  1. Emma Collier-Baker
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  2. Joanne M. Davis
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  3. Mark Nielsen
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  4. Thomas Suddendorf
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Correspondence to Emma Collier-Baker.

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Collier-Baker, E., Davis, J.M., Nielsen, M. et al. Do chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) understand single invisible displacement?. Anim Cogn 9, 55–61 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-005-0004-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-005-0004-5

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