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Representing tools: how two non-human primate species distinguish between the functionally relevant and irrelevant features of a tool

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Abstract

Few studies have examined whether non-human tool-users understand the properties that are relevant for a tool's function. We tested cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) and rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) on an expectancy violation procedure designed to assess whether these species make distinctions between the functionally relevant and irrelevant features of a tool. Subjects watched an experimenter use a tool to push a grape down a ramp, and then were presented with different displays in which the features of the original tool (shape, color, orientation) were selectively varied. Results indicated that both species looked longer when a newly shaped stick acted on the grape than when a newly colored stick performed the same action, suggesting that both species perceive shape as a more salient transformation than color. In contrast, tamarins, but not rhesus, attended to changes in the tool's orientation. We propose that some non-human primates begin with a predisposition to attend to a tool's shape and, with sufficient experience, develop a more sophisticated understanding of the features that are functionally relevant to tools.

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Acknowledgements

L.R.S. was supported by the Mind, Brain, and Behavior Program, the Harvard University McMasters Fund, the Mellon Scholars Program, and an NSF Predoctoral Fellowship. C.T.M. was supported by Harvard University. M.D.H. was supported by the NSF (SBR-9357976), the NEPRC (PHS-P51RR00168–37) and Harvard University. Cayo Santiago was supported by the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus and NIH (# RR03640). The authors wish to thank Kate Dollenmayer, Orville Jackson, Dr. Lori Markson, and Bridget Spelke for their help in running these experiments, and Dr. John Berard and the Caribbean Primate Research Center for the use of the Cayo Santiago facilities. We also wish to thank Dr. Paul Bloom, Dr. Asif Ghazanfar, and Dr. Elizabeth Spelke for their insightful comments on the manuscript. All of this research conforms to federal guidelines for use of animals in research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

    Laurie R. Santos & Cory T. Miller

  2. Department of Psychology and Program in Neuroscience, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

    Marc D. Hauser

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  1. Laurie R. Santos
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  2. Cory T. Miller
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  3. Marc D. Hauser
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Correspondence to Laurie R. Santos.

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Santos, L.R., Miller, C.T. & Hauser, M.D. Representing tools: how two non-human primate species distinguish between the functionally relevant and irrelevant features of a tool. Anim Cogn 6, 269–281 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-003-0171-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-003-0171-1

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