The limits of chimpanzee-human comparisons for understanding human cognition.
Evolutionary questions require specialized approaches, part of which are comparisons between close relatives. However, to understand the origins of human tool behavior, comparisons with solely chimpanzees are insufficient, lacking the power to identify derived traits. Moreover, tool use is unlikely a unitary phenomenon. Large-scale comparative analyses provide an alternative and suggest that tool use co-evolves with a suite of cognitive traits.
Department of Biology, McGill University, Montréal, Québec H3A 1B1, Canada. simon.reader@mcgill.ca
Simon M
SM
Reader
Steven M
SM
Hrotic
D000818:Animals; D003071:Cognition; D006801:Humans; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013672:Technology; D053001:Tool Use Behavior