Belief Attribution in Animals: On How to Move Forward Conceptually and Empirically

Do monkeys have a theory of mind? How to answer the question?

Since Premack and Woodruf (1978), the study of mindreading abilities in nonhumans, especially primates, has been thoroughly investigated. But attempts to understand the evolution of this aspect of human intelligence have mainly focused on comparisons between apes and human infants, while relatively little is known about the abilities of monkeys. This lack of data on monkeys seems mainly due to the hypothesis of a cognitive "gap" between apes and monkeys. However, in recent years monkeys have been featuring more prominently in the landscape of social cognition research, and some of these systematic studies appear promising. This paper reviews i) current knowledge about monkeys' socio-cognitive abilities, especially regarding gaze processing, attention and intention reading, and perspective-taking, ii) alternative hypotheses regarding the underlying mechanisms of such complex behaviors, and iii) potential new perspectives and future directions for studying ToM in monkeys.

Animal mindreading: what's the problem?

Research on mindreading in animals has the potential to address fundamental questions about the nature and origins of the human capacity to ascribe mental states, but it is a research programme that seems to be in trouble. Between 1978 and 2000 several groups used a range of methods, some with considerable promise, to ask whether animals can understand a variety of mental states. Since that time, many enthusiasts have become sceptics, empirical methods have become more limited, and it is no longer clear what research on animal mindreading is trying to find. In this article I suggest that the problems are theoretical and methodological: there is difficulty in conceptualising alternatives to 'full-blown' mindreading, and reluctance to use the kinds of empirical methods necessary to distinguish mindreading from other psychological mechanisms. I also suggest ways of tackling the theoretical and methodological problems that draw on recent studies of mindreading in humans, and the resources of experimental psychology more generally. In combination with the use of inanimate control stimuli, species that are unlikely to be capable of mindreading, and the 'goggles method', these approaches could restore both vigour and rigour to research on animal mindreading.