Gravity and solidity in four great ape species (Gorilla gorilla, Pongo pygmaeus, Pan troglodytes, Pan paniscus): vertical and horizontal variations of the table task.
Three experiments modeled after infant studies were run on four great ape species (Gorilla gorilla, Pongo pygmaeus, Pan troglodytes, Pan paniscus) to investigate their reasoning about solidity and gravity constraints. The aims were: (a) to find out if great apes are subject to gravity biased search or display sensitivity for object solidity, (b) to check for species differences, and (c) to assess if a gravity hypothesis or more parsimonious explanations best account for failures observed. Results indicate that great apes, unlike monkeys, show no reliable gravity bias, that ape species slightly differ in terms of their performance, and that the errors made are best explained by a gravity account.
Cacchione
Trix
T
Department of Psychology, Cognitive and Developmental Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland. t.cacchione@psychologie.uzh.ch
Call
Josep
J
Zingg
Robert
R
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D002652:Child Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003210:Concept Formation / Q000502:physiology; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D006071:Gorilla gorilla; D006112:Gravitation; D006244:Hardness; D015186:Hominidae / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D019974:Pan paniscus; D002679:Pan troglodytes; D011148:Pongo pygmaeus; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D011587:Psychology, Comparative; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D013045:Species Specificity; D013997:Time Factors; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*