Reflections on self-recognition in primates

Abstract

Abstract. Evidence that apes touch head marks more in the presence of a mirror than in its absence have been taken to indicate that, unlike monkeys, they are capable of self-recognition and have a self-concept. Both of these conclusions are challenged. First, variance in mark-touching behaviour may be due, not to mirror-presence, but to the effects of anaesthetic recovery on species with a high baseline frequency of self-directed behaviour. Second, evidence of species differences in mirror-guided body inspection could not be explained in terms of the presence or absence of a self-concept. Since monkeys can avoid colliding with objects, they must possess the only kind of self-concept necessary for mirror-guided body inspection; i.e. the capacity to discriminate feedback from other sensory input. Rather than implying a self-concept, mirror-guided body inspection involves the use of novel, displaced visual feedback to guide action.