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Mangalam M, Fragaszy DM, Wagman JB, Day BM, Kelty-Stephen DG, Bongers RM, Stout DW, Osiurak F. On the psychological origins of tool use. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2022; 134:104521. [PMID: 34998834 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104521] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2021] [Revised: 12/01/2021] [Accepted: 01/01/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
The ubiquity of tool use in human life has generated multiple lines of scientific and philosophical investigation to understand the development and expression of humans' engagement with tools and its relation to other dimensions of human experience. However, existing literature on tool use faces several epistemological challenges in which the same set of questions generate many different answers. At least four critical questions can be identified, which are intimately intertwined-(1) What constitutes tool use? (2) What psychological processes underlie tool use in humans and nonhuman animals? (3) Which of these psychological processes are exclusive to tool use? (4) Which psychological processes involved in tool use are exclusive to Homo sapiens? To help advance a multidisciplinary scientific understanding of tool use, six author groups representing different academic disciplines (e.g., anthropology, psychology, neuroscience) and different theoretical perspectives respond to each of these questions, and then point to the direction of future work on tool use. We find that while there are marked differences among the responses of the respective author groups to each question, there is a surprising degree of agreement about many essential concepts and questions. We believe that this interdisciplinary and intertheoretical discussion will foster a more comprehensive understanding of tool use than any one of these perspectives (or any one of these author groups) would (or could) on their own.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madhur Mangalam
- Department of Physical Therapy, Movement and Rehabilitation Science, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
| | | | - Jeffrey B Wagman
- Department of Psychology, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61761, USA
| | - Brian M Day
- Department of Psychology, Butler University, Indianapolis, IN 46208, USA
| | | | - Raoul M Bongers
- Department of Human Movement Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, 9713 GZ Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Dietrich W Stout
- Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - François Osiurak
- Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs, Université de Lyon, Lyon 69361, France; Institut Universitaire de France, Paris 75231, France
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2
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Abstract
The search for human cognitive uniqueness often relied on low ecological tests with subjects experiencing unnatural ontogeny. Recently, neuroscience demonstrated the significance of a rich environment on the development of brain structures and cognitive abilities. This stresses the importance to consider the prior knowledge that subjects bring in any experiment. Second, recent developments in multivariate statistics control precisely for a number of factors and their interactions. Making controls in natural observations equivalent and sometimes superior to captive experimental studies without the drawbacks of the latter methods. Thus, we can now investigate complex cognition by accounting for many different factors, as required when solving tasks in nature. Combining both progresses allows us to move toward an “experience-specific cognition”, recognizing that cognition varies extensively in nature as individuals adapt to the precise challenges they experience in life. Such cognitive specialization makes cross-species comparisons more complex, while potentially identifying human cognitive uniqueness.
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3
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Boesch C, Bombjaková D, Meier A, Mundry R. Learning curves and teaching when acquiring nut-cracking in humans and chimpanzees. Sci Rep 2019; 9:1515. [PMID: 30728446 PMCID: PMC6365518 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-38392-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2018] [Accepted: 12/27/2018] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans are considered superior to other species in their tool using skills. However, most of our knowledge about animals comes from observations in artificial conditions with individuals removed from their natural environment. We present a first comparison of humans and chimpanzees spontaneously acquiring the same technique as they forage in their natural environment. We compared the acquisition of the Panda nut-cracking technique between Mbendjele foragers from the Republic of Congo and the Taï chimpanzees from Côte d'Ivoire. Both species initially acquire the technique slowly with similar kinds of mistakes, with years of practice required for the apprentice to become expert. Chimpanzees more rapidly acquired the technique when an apprentice, and reached adult efficiency earlier than humans. Adult efficiencies in both species did not differ significantly. Expert-apprentice interactions showed many similar instances of teaching in both species, with more variability in humans due, in part to their more complex technique. While in humans, teaching occurred both vertically and obliquely, only the former existed in chimpanzees. This comparison of the acquisition of a natural technique clarifies how the two species differed in their technical intelligence. Furthermore, our observations support the idea of teaching in both species being more frequent for difficult skills.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christophe Boesch
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Daša Bombjaková
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, WC1H 0BW, London, UK
| | - Amelia Meier
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.,Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
| | - Roger Mundry
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.,Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
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Luncz LV, Sirianni G, Mundry R, Boesch C. Costly culture: differences in nut-cracking efficiency between wild chimpanzee groups. Anim Behav 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.12.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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5
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Mangalam M, Pacheco MM, Izar P, Visalberghi E, Fragaszy DM. Unique perceptuomotor control of stone hammers in wild monkeys. Biol Lett 2018; 14:rsbl.2017.0587. [PMID: 29321246 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2017.0587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2017] [Accepted: 12/07/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
We analysed the patterns of coordination of striking movement and perceptuomotor control of stone hammers in wild bearded capuchin monkeys, Sapajus libidinosus as they cracked open palm nut using hammers of different mass, a habitual behaviour in our study population. We aimed to determine why these monkeys cannot produce conchoidally fractured flakes as do contemporary human knappers or as did prehistoric hominin knappers. We found that the monkeys altered their patterns of coordination of movement to accommodate changes in hammer mass. By altering their patterns of coordination, the monkeys kept the strike's amplitude and the hammer's velocity at impact constant with respect to hammer mass. In doing so, the hammer's kinetic energy at impact-which determines the propagation of a fracture/crack in a nut-varied across hammers of different mass. The monkeys did not control the hammer's kinetic energy at impact, the key parameter a perceiver-actor should control while knapping stones. These findings support the hypothesis that the perceptuomotor control of stone hammers in wild bearded capuchin monkeys is inadequate to produce conchoidally fractured flakes by knapping stones, as do humans.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Patrícia Izar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Elisabetta Visalberghi
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council of Italy (CNR), 00197 Rome, Italy
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6
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Sirianni G, Wittig RM, Gratton P, Mundry R, Schüler A, Boesch C. Do chimpanzees anticipate an object's weight? A field experiment on the kinematics of hammer-lifting movements in the nut-cracking Taï chimpanzees. Anim Cogn 2017; 21:109-118. [PMID: 29196908 PMCID: PMC5756265 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-017-1144-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2017] [Revised: 10/27/2017] [Accepted: 11/09/2017] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
When humans are about to manipulate an object, our brains use visual cues to recall an internal representation to predict its weight and scale the lifting force accordingly. Such a long-term force profile, formed through repeated experiences with similar objects, has been proposed to improve manipulative performance. Skillful object manipulation is crucial for many animals, particularly those that rely on tools for foraging. However, despite enduring interest in tool use in non-human animals, there has been very little investigation of their ability to form an expectation about an object's weight. In this study, we tested whether wild chimpanzees use long-term force profiles to anticipate the weight of a nut-cracking hammer from its size. To this end, we conducted a field experiment presenting chimpanzees with natural wooden hammers and artificially hollowed, lighter hammers of the same size and external appearance. We used calibrated videos from camera traps to extract kinematic parameters of lifting movements. We found that, when lacking previous experience, chimpanzees lifted hollowed hammers with a higher acceleration than natural hammers (overshoot effect). After using a hammer to crack open one nut, chimpanzees tuned down the lifting acceleration for the hollowed hammers, but continued lifting natural hammers with the same acceleration. Our results show that chimpanzees anticipate the weight of an object using long-term force profiles and suggest that, similarly to humans, they use internal representations of weight to plan their lifting movements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Sirianni
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Roman M Wittig
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
- Taï Chimpanzee Project, CSRS, BP 1303, Abidjan, 01, Côte d'Ivoire
| | - Paolo Gratton
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Roger Mundry
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Axel Schüler
- Institut für Angewandte Trainingswissenschaft, Marschnerstraße 29, 04109, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Christophe Boesch
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
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Boesch C, Bombjaková D, Boyette A, Meier A. Technical intelligence and culture: Nut cracking in humans and chimpanzees. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2017; 163:339-355. [PMID: 28332189 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2016] [Revised: 02/20/2017] [Accepted: 03/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES According to the technical intelligence hypothesis, humans are superior to all other animal species in understanding and using tools. However, the vast majority of comparative studies between humans and chimpanzees, both proficient tool users, have not controlled for the effects of age, prior knowledge, past experience, rearing conditions, or differences in experimental procedures. We tested whether humans are superior to chimpanzees in selecting better tools, using them more dexteriously, achieving higher performance and gaining access to more resource as predicted under the technical intelligence hypothesis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Aka and Mbendjele hunter-gatherers in the rainforest of Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo, respectively, and Taï chimpanzees in the rainforest of Côte d'Ivoire were observed cracking hard Panda oleosa nuts with different tools, as well as the soft Coula edulis and Elaeis guinensis nuts. The nut-cracking techniques, hammer material selection and two efficiency measures were compared. RESULTS As predicted, the Aka and the Mbendjele were able to exploit more species of hard nuts in the forest than chimpanzees. However, the chimpanzees were sometimes more efficient than the humans. Social roles differed between the two species, with the Aka and especially the Mbendjele exhibiting cooperation between nut-crackers whereas the chimpanzees were mainly individualistic. DISCUSSION Observations of nut-cracking by humans and chimpanzees only partially supported the technical intelligence hypothesis as higher degrees of flexibility in tool selection seen in chimpanzees compensated for use of less efficient tool material than in humans. Nut cracking was a stronger social undertaking in humans than in chimpanzees.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christophe Boesch
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Daša Bombjaková
- Department of Social Anthropology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Adam Boyette
- Thompson writing program, University of Duke, Durham
| | - Amelia Meier
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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8
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Arroyo A, Hirata S, Matsuzawa T, de la Torre I. Nut Cracking Tools Used by Captive Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and Their Comparison with Early Stone Age Percussive Artefacts from Olduvai Gorge. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0166788. [PMID: 27870877 PMCID: PMC5117719 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0166788] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2016] [Accepted: 11/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
We present the results of a series of experiments at the Kumamoto Sanctuary in Japan, in which captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) performed several nut cracking sessions using raw materials from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. We examined captive chimpanzee pounding tools using a combination of technological analysis, use-wear distribution, and micro-wear analysis. Our results show specific patterns of use-wear distribution across the active surfaces of pounding tools, which reveal some similarities with traces on archaeological percussive objects from the Early Stone Age, and are consistent with traces on other experimental pounding tools used by modern humans. The approach used in this study may help to stablish a framework with which to interpret archaeological assemblages and improve understanding of use-wear formation processes on pounding tools used by chimpanzees. This study represents the first direct comparison of chimpanzee pounding tools and archaeological material, and thus may contribute to a better understanding of hominin percussive activities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrián Arroyo
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY, United Kingdom
| | - Satoshi Hirata
- Kumamoto Sanctuary, Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, 990 Ohtao, Misumi, Uki, Kumamoto, 869-201, Japan
| | - Tetsuro Matsuzawa
- Kyoto University, Institute for Advanced Studies, Kyoto, Japan.,Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Aichi, Japan.,Japan Monkey Centre, Aichi, Japan
| | - Ignacio de la Torre
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY, United Kingdom
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9
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Dubreuil L, Nadel D. The development of plant food processing in the Levant: insights from use-wear analysis of Early Epipalaeolithic ground stone tools. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 370:rstb.2014.0357. [PMID: 26483535 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2014.0357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
In recent years, the study of percussive, pounding and grinding tools has provided new insights into human evolution, more particularly regarding the development of technology enabling the processing and exploitation of plant resources. Some of these studies focus on early evidence for flour production, an activity frequently perceived as an important step in the evolution of plant exploitation. The present paper investigates plant food preparation in mobile hunter-gatherer societies from the Southern Levant. The analysis consists of a use-wear study of 18 tools recovered from Ohalo II, a 23 000-year-old site in Israel showing an exceptional level of preservation. Our sample includes a slab previously interpreted as a lower implement used for producing flour, based on the presence of cereal starch residues. The use-wear data we have obtained provide crucial information about the function of this and other percussive tools at Ohalo II, as well as on investment in tool manufacture, discard strategies and evidence for plant processing in the Late Pleistocene. The use-wear analysis indicates that the production of flour was a sporadic activity at Ohalo II, predating by thousands of years the onset of routine processing of plant foods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laure Dubreuil
- Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Life and Health Sciences Building Block C, 2140 East Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada K9J 7B8
| | - Dani Nadel
- Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Aba Hushi 199, Haifa 3498838, Israel
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10
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Bril B, Parry R, Dietrich G. How similar are nut-cracking and stone-flaking? A functional approach to percussive technology. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 370:rstb.2014.0355. [PMID: 26483533 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2014.0355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Various authors have suggested similarities between tool use in early hominins and chimpanzees. This has been particularly evident in studies of nut-cracking which is considered to be the most complex skill exhibited by wild apes, and has also been interpreted as a precursor of more complex stone-flaking abilities. It has been argued that there is no major qualitative difference between what the chimpanzee does when he cracks a nut and what early hominins did when they detached a flake from a core. In this paper, similarities and differences between skills involved in stone-flaking and nut-cracking are explored through an experimental protocol with human subjects performing both tasks. We suggest that a 'functional' approach to percussive action, based on the distinction between functional parameters that characterize each task and parameters that characterize the agent's actions and movements, is a fruitful method for understanding those constraints which need to be mastered to perform each task successfully, and subsequently, the nature of skill involved in both tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Blandine Bril
- Groupe de Recherche Apprentissage et Contexte, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France EDA-EA4071, Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France
| | - Ross Parry
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR S 1127, 75013 Paris, France Inserm, U 1127, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière, ICM, 75013 Paris, France
| | - Gilles Dietrich
- Groupe de Recherche Apprentissage et Contexte, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France EDA-EA4071, Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France
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11
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de la Torre I, Hirata S. Percussive technology in human evolution: an introduction to a comparative approach in fossil and living primates. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 370:rstb.2014.0346. [PMID: 26483526 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2014.0346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Percussive technology is part of the behavioural suite of several fossil and living primates. Stone Age ancestors used lithic artefacts in pounding activities, which could have been most important in the earliest stages of stone working. This has relevant evolutionary implications, as other primates such as chimpanzees and some monkeys use stone hammer-and-anvil combinations to crack hard-shelled foodstuffs. Parallels between primate percussive technologies and early archaeological sites need to be further explored in order to assess the emergence of technological behaviour in our evolutionary line, and firmly establish bridges between Primatology and Archaeology. What are the anatomical, cognitive and ecological constraints of percussive technology? How common are percussive activities in the Stone Age and among living primates? What is their functional significance? How similar are archaeological percussive tools and those made by non-human primates? This issue of Phil. Trans. addresses some of these questions by presenting case studies with a wide chronological, geographical and disciplinary coverage. The studies presented here cover studies of Brazilian capuchins, captive chimpanzees and chimpanzees in the wild, research on the use of percussive technology among modern humans and recent hunter-gatherers in Australia, the Near East and Europe, and archaeological examples of this behaviour from a million years ago to the Holocene. In summary, the breadth and depth of research compiled here should make this issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, a landmark step forward towards a better understanding of percussive technology, a unique behaviour shared by some modern and fossil primates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ignacio de la Torre
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK
| | - Satoshi Hirata
- Kumamoto-Sanctuary of Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, 990 Ohtao, Misumi, Uki, Kumamoto 869-3201, Japan
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12
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Liu Q, Fragaszy DM, Visalberghi E. Wild capuchin monkeys spontaneously adjust actions when using hammer stones of different mass to crack nuts of different resistance. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2016; 161:53-61. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2015] [Revised: 04/10/2016] [Accepted: 04/14/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Qing Liu
- Psychology Department; State University of New York at Oswego; Oswego NY
- Psychology Department; University of Georgia; Athens GA
| | | | - Elisabetta Visalberghi
- Unit of Cognitive Primatology and Primate Center; Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies; Rome Italy
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13
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Mangalam M, Izar P, Visalberghi E, Fragaszy DM. Task-specific temporal organization of percussive movements in wild bearded capuchin monkeys. Anim Behav 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.01.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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14
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Visalberghi E, Sirianni G, Fragaszy D, Boesch C. Percussive tool use by Taï Western chimpanzees and Fazenda Boa Vista bearded capuchin monkeys: a comparison. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2015; 370:20140351. [PMID: 26483529 PMCID: PMC4614714 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2014.0351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/23/2015] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Percussive tool use holds special interest for scientists concerned with human origins. We summarize the findings from two field sites, Taï and Fazenda Boa Vista, where percussive tool use by chimpanzees and bearded capuchins, respectively, has been extensively investigated. We describe the ecological settings in which nut-cracking occurs and focus on four aspects of nut-cracking that have important cognitive implications, namely selection of tools, tool transport, tool modification and modulation of actions to reach the goal of cracking the nut. We comment on similarities and differences in behaviour and consider whether the observed differences reflect ecological, morphological, social and/or cognitive factors. Both species are sensitive to physical properties of tools, adjust their selection of hammers conditionally to the resistance of the nuts and to transport distance, and modulate the energy of their strikes under some conditions. However, chimpanzees transport hammers more frequently and for longer distances, take into account a higher number of combinations of variables and occasionally intentionally modify tools. A parsimonious interpretation of our findings is that morphological, ecological and social factors account for the observed differences. Confirmation of plausible cognitive differences in nut-cracking requires data not yet available.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisabetta Visalberghi
- Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 00197 Rome, Italy
| | - Giulia Sirianni
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Dorothy Fragaszy
- Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
| | - Christophe Boesch
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
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15
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How to crack nuts: acquisition process in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) observing a model. Anim Cogn 2015; 12 Suppl 1:87-101. [PMID: 19727866 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-009-0275-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2008] [Revised: 07/24/2009] [Accepted: 07/27/2009] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Stone tool use for nut cracking consists of placing a hard-shelled nut onto a stone anvil and then cracking the shell open by pounding it with a stone hammer to get to the kernel. We investigated the acquisition of tool use for nut cracking in a group of captive chimpanzees to clarify what kind of understanding of the tools and actions will lead to the acquisition of this type of tool use in the presence of a skilled model. A human experimenter trained a male chimpanzee until he mastered the use of a hammer and anvil stone to crack open macadamia nuts. He was then put in a nut-cracking situation together with his group mates, who were naïve to this tool use; we did not have a control group without a model. The results showed that the process of acquisition could be broken down into several steps, including recognition of applying pressure to the nut,emergence of the use of a combination of three objects, emergence of the hitting action, using a tool for hitting, and hitting the nut. The chimpanzees recognized these different components separately and practiced them one after another. They gradually united these factors in their behavior leading to their first success. Their behavior did not clearly improve immediately after observing successful nut cracking by a peer, but observation of a skilled group member seemed to have a gradual, long-term influence on the acquisition of nut cracking by naïve chimpanzees.
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16
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Mangalam M, Fragaszy D. Wild Bearded Capuchin Monkeys Crack Nuts Dexterously. Curr Biol 2015; 25:1334-9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.03.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2015] [Revised: 03/06/2015] [Accepted: 03/19/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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17
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Parry R, Dietrich G, Bril B. Tool use ability depends on understanding of functional dynamics and not specific joint contribution profiles. Front Psychol 2014; 5:306. [PMID: 24795669 PMCID: PMC4006045 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00306] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2013] [Accepted: 03/25/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Researchers in cognitive neuroscience have become increasingly interested in how different aspects of tool use are integrated and represented by the brain. Comparatively less attention has been directed toward tool use actions themselves and how effective tool use behaviors are coordinated. In response, we take this opportunity to consider the mechanical principles of tool use actions and their relationship to motor learning. Using kinematic analysis, we examine both functional dynamics and joint contribution profiles of subjects with different levels of experience in a primordial percussive task. Our results show that the ability to successfully produce stone flakes using the Oldowan method did not correspond with any particular joint contribution profile. Rather, expertise in this tool use action was principally associated with the subject's ability to regulate the functional parameters that define the task itself.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ross Parry
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR_S 975, CRICMParis, France
- Inserm, U 1127, CRICMParis, France
| | | | - Blandine Bril
- Groupe de Recherche Apprentissage et Contexte, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences SocialesParis, France
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18
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19
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Smaers JB, Steele J, Case CR, Amunts K. Laterality and the evolution of the prefronto-cerebellar system in anthropoids. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2013; 1288:59-69. [PMID: 23647442 PMCID: PMC4298027 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.12047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
There is extensive evidence for an early vertebrate origin of lateralized motor behavior and of related asymmetries in underlying brain systems. We investigate human lateralized motor functioning in a broad comparative context of evolutionary neural reorganization. We quantify evolutionary trends in the fronto-cerebellar system (involved in motor learning) across 46 million years of divergent primate evolution by comparing rates of evolution of prefrontal cortex, frontal motor cortex, and posterior cerebellar hemispheres along individual branches of the primate tree of life. We provide a detailed evolutionary model of the neuroanatomical changes leading to modern human lateralized motor functioning, demonstrating an increased role for the fronto-cerebellar system in the apes dating to their evolutionary divergence from the monkeys (∼30 million years ago (Mya)), and a subsequent shift toward an increased role for prefrontal cortex over frontal motor cortex in the fronto-cerebellar system in the Homo-Pan ancestral lineage (∼10 Mya) and in the human ancestral lineage (∼6 Mya). We discuss these results in the context of cortico-cerebellar functions and their likely role in the evolution of human tool use and speech.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeroen B Smaers
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
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Rein R, Bril B, Nonaka T. Coordination strategies used in stone knapping. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2013; 150:539-50. [PMID: 23359287 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2012] [Accepted: 12/11/2012] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Stone tool-use and manufacture is seen as an important skill during the evolution of our species and recently there has been increased interest in the understanding of perceptual-motor abilities underlying this skill. This study provides further information with respect to the motor strategies used during stone knapping. Kinematics of the striking arm were recorded in expert and novice knappers while producing flakes of two different sizes. Using Uncontrolled Manifold Analysis, the results showed that knappers structure joint angle movements such that the hammer trajectory variability is minimized across trials, with experts displaying significantly smaller variability compared with novices. Principal component analysis further revealed that a single component captures the complexity of the strike and that the strike is governed by movements of the elbow and the wrist. Analysis of movement velocities indicated that both groups adjusted movement velocities according to flake size although experts used smaller hammer, wrist, and elbow velocities in both flake conditions compared with novices. The results suggest that while the gross striking movement is easy to replicate for a novice knapper, it requires prolonged training before a knapper becomes attuned to the finer details necessary for controlled flaking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Rein
- Department of Neurology, German Sport University Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
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Schrauf C, Call J, Fuwa K, Hirata S. Do chimpanzees use weight to select hammer tools? PLoS One 2012; 7:e41044. [PMID: 22815905 PMCID: PMC3399814 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0041044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2011] [Accepted: 06/21/2012] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
The extent to which tool-using animals take into account relevant task parameters is poorly understood. Nut cracking is one of the most complex forms of tool use, the choice of an adequate hammer being a critical aspect in success. Several properties make a hammer suitable for nut cracking, with weight being a key factor in determining the impact of a strike; in general, the greater the weight the fewer strikes required. This study experimentally investigated whether chimpanzees are able to encode the relevance of weight as a property of hammers to crack open nuts. By presenting chimpanzees with three hammers that differed solely in weight, we assessed their ability to relate the weight of the different tools with their effectiveness and thus select the most effective one(s). Our results show that chimpanzees use weight alone in selecting tools to crack open nuts and that experience clearly affects the subjects' attentiveness to the tool properties that are relevant for the task at hand. Chimpanzees can encode the requirements that a nut-cracking tool should meet (in terms of weight) to be effective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cornelia Schrauf
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
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Bril B, Smaers J, Steele J, Rein R, Nonaka T, Dietrich G, Biryukova E, Hirata S, Roux V. Functional mastery of percussive technology in nut-cracking and stone-flaking actions: experimental comparison and implications for the evolution of the human brain. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2012; 367:59-74. [PMID: 22106427 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Various authors have suggested behavioural similarities between tool use in early hominins and chimpanzee nut cracking, where nut cracking might be interpreted as a precursor of more complex stone flaking. In this paper, we bring together and review two separate strands of research on chimpanzee and human tool use and cognitive abilities. Firstly, and in the greatest detail, we review our recent experimental work on behavioural organization and skill acquisition in nut-cracking and stone-knapping tasks, highlighting similarities and differences between the two tasks that may be informative for the interpretation of stone tools in the early archaeological record. Secondly, and more briefly, we outline a model of the comparative neuropsychology of primate tool use and discuss recent descriptive anatomical and statistical analyses of anthropoid primate brain evolution, focusing on cortico-cerebellar systems. By juxtaposing these two strands of research, we are able to identify unsolved problems that can usefully be addressed by future research in each of these two research areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Blandine Bril
- École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales-Groupe de recherche Apprentissage et Contexte, 190 Avenue de France, 75013 Paris, France.
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Fields C. Motion as manipulation: implementation of force-motion analogies by event-file binding and action planning. Cogn Process 2012; 13:231-41. [PMID: 22331426 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-012-0436-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2011] [Accepted: 01/31/2012] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Tool-improvisation analogies are structure-mapping inferences implemented, in many species, by event-file binding and pre-motor action planning. These processes act on multi-modal representations of currently perceived situations and eventuate in motor acts that can be directly evaluated for success or failure; they employ implicit representations of force-motion relations encoded by the pre-motor system and do not depend on explicit, language-like representations of relational concepts. A detailed reconstruction of the analogical reasoning steps involved in Rutherford's and Bohr's development of the first quantized-orbit model of atomic structure is used to show that human force-motion analogies can in general be implemented by these mechanisms. This event-file manipulation model of the implementation of force-motion analogies is distinguished from the standard view that structure-mapping analogies require the manipulation of explicit, language-like representations of relational concepts.
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Schrauf C, Call J. Great apes use weight as a cue to find hidden food. Am J Primatol 2010; 73:323-34. [DOI: 10.1002/ajp.20899] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2010] [Revised: 10/16/2010] [Accepted: 10/16/2010] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) precentral corticospinal system asymmetry and handedness: a diffusion magnetic resonance imaging study. PLoS One 2010; 5:e12886. [PMID: 20877630 PMCID: PMC2943482 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0012886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2010] [Accepted: 08/26/2010] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Most humans are right handed, and most humans exhibit left-right asymmetries of the precentral corticospinal system. Recent studies indicate that chimpanzees also show a population-level right-handed bias, although it is less strong than in humans. Methodology/Principal Findings We used in vivo diffusion-weighted and T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study the relationship between the corticospinal tract (CST) and handedness in 36 adult female chimpanzees. Chimpanzees exhibited a hemispheric bias in fractional anisotropy (FA, left>right) and mean diffusivity (MD, right>left) of the CST, and the left CST was centered more posteriorly than the right. Handedness correlated with central sulcus depth, but not with FA or MD. Conclusions/Significance These anatomical results are qualitatively similar to those reported in humans, despite the differences in handedness. The existence of a left>right FA, right>left MD bias in the corticospinal tract that does not correlate with handedness, a result also reported in some human studies, suggests that at least some of the structural asymmetries of the corticospinal system are not exclusively related to laterality of hand preference.
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Implementation of structure-mapping inference by event-file binding and action planning: a model of tool-improvisation analogies. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2010; 75:129-42. [DOI: 10.1007/s00426-010-0290-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2010] [Accepted: 05/18/2010] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Schrauf C, Call J. Great apes' performance in discriminating weight and achromatic color. Anim Cogn 2009; 12:567-74. [PMID: 19238466 PMCID: PMC2698969 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-009-0216-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2008] [Revised: 01/30/2009] [Accepted: 02/05/2009] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Much work has been done on visual discrimination in primates over the past decade. In contrast, very little is known about the relevance of non-visual information in discrimination learning. We investigated weight and achromatic color (color, henceforth) discrimination in bonobos, gorillas and orangutans, using the exchange paradigm in which subjects have to give objects to the experimenter in order to receive a reward. Unlike previous studies, subjects were not trained to lift objects because lifting the objects was an integral part of the exchange procedure. This methodology also allowed us a direct comparison between visual and weight discrimination. We presented 12 subjects (5 bonobos, 2 gorillas and 5 orangutans) with two sets of objects corresponding to two conditions. The objects in the color condition (white/black) differed only in color and those in the weight condition (light/heavy) differed only in weight. Five apes learned to discriminate weight and six to discriminate color. Subjects learned color discrimination faster than weight discrimination. Our results suggest that bonobos and orangutans are sensitive to differences in weight and able to learn discriminating objects that differ in this property.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cornelia Schrauf
- Department for Neurobiology and Cognition Research, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, Vienna, 1090, Austria.
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