title: Robust retention and transfer of tool construction techniques in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).
abstract: Long-term memory can be critical to a species' survival in environments with seasonal and even longer-term cycles of resource availability. The present, longitudinal study investigated whether complex tool behaviors used to gain an out-of-reach reward, following a hiatus of about 3 years and 7 months since initial experiences with a tool use task, were retained and subsequently executed more quickly by experienced than by naïve chimpanzees. Ten of the 11 retested chimpanzees displayed impressive long-term procedural memory, creating elongated tools using the same methods employed years previously, either combining 2 tools or extending a single tool. The complex tool behaviors were also transferred to a different task context, showing behavioral flexibility. This represents some of the first evidence for appreciable long-term procedural memory, and improvements in the utility of complex tool manufacture in chimpanzees. Such long-term procedural memory and behavioral flexibility have important implications for the longevity and transmission of behavioral traditions.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Coevolution of Biology and Culture, Department of Anthropology, Durham University.
authors.forename: Gill L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Vale
authors.affiliation: Centre for Coevolution of Biology and Culture, School of Education, Durham University.
authors.forename: Emma G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Flynn
authors.affiliation: Centre for Coevolution of Biology and Culture, Department of Anthropology, Durham University.
authors.forename: Lydia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pender
authors.affiliation: Centre for Behavior and Evolution, Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Price
authors.affiliation: Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Whiten
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
authors.forename: Susan P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Lambeth
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Schapiro
authors.affiliation: Centre for Coevolution of Biology and Culture, Department of Anthropology, Durham University.
authors.forename: Rachel L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Kendal
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000523:psychology*; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D053001:Tool Use Behavior; D014163:Transfer, Psychology