Learning from communication versus observation in great apes

Hanna Marno,Josep Call,Christoph J Völter,Dan Sperber,Brandon Tinklenberg

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-07053-2

Abstract

When human infants are intentionally addressed by others, they tend to interpret the information communicated as being relevant to them and worth acquiring. For humans, this attribution of relevance leads to a preference to learn from communication, making it possible to accumulate knowledge over generations. Great apes are sensitive to communicative cues, but do these cues also activate an expectation of relevance? In an observational learning paradigm, we demonstrated to a sample of nonhuman great apes (bonobos, chimpanzees, orangutans; N = 24) how to operate on a food dispenser device. When apes had the opportunity to choose between an effective and an ineffective method in the baseline conditions, the majority of them chose the effective method. However, when the ineffective method was demonstrated in a communicative way, they failed to prioritize efficiency, even though they were equally attentive in both conditions. This suggests that the ostensive demonstration elicited an expectation of relevance that modified apes’ interpretation of the situation, potentially leading to a preference to learn from communication, as human children do.

Highlights

When human infants are intentionally addressed by others, they tend to interpret the information communicated as being relevant to them and worth acquiring
The communicator’s capacity to produce ostensive cues together with the audience’s matching disposition to expect what is ostensively communicated to be of particular relevance to them can be a crucial component in social interaction
Animal husbandry and all research methods complied with local guidelines, which strictly adhere to international standards [the Weatherall report “The use of non-human primates in research”] and the national laws of Germany [“EAZA Minimum Standards for the Accommodation and Care of Animals in Zoos and Aquaria”, “WAZA Ethical Guidelines for the Conduct of Research on Animals by Zoos and Aquariums”, “Guidelines for the Treatment of Animals in Behavioral Research and Teaching” of the Association for the Study of Animal Behavior (ASAB)”]

Summary

Introduction

When human infants are intentionally addressed by others, they tend to interpret the information communicated as being relevant to them and worth acquiring. When the ineffective method was demonstrated in a communicative way, they failed to prioritize efficiency, even though they were attentive in both conditions This suggests that the ostensive demonstration elicited an expectation of relevance that modified apes’ interpretation of the situation, potentially leading to a preference to learn from communication, as human children do. Similar to human infants, captive apes can be sensitive to communicative cues, such as eye-contact or calling their n ame[17,18,19], and they prefer direct eye-gaze over averted g aze[20]. It remains unclear how apes interpret the information they receive in the context of ostensive signals. When young children observe action demonstrations, even if the communicatively demonstrated action is apparently

Methods

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Conclusion