Eye tracking uncovered great apes' ability to anticipate that other individuals will act according to false beliefs
Year: 2017
Type: review
Abstract: Using a novel eye-tracking test, we recently showed that great apes anticipate that other individuals will act according to false beliefs. This finding suggests that, like humans, great apes understand others' false beliefs, at least in an implicit way. One key question raised by our study is why apes have passed our tests but not previous ones. In this article, we consider this question by detailing the development of our task. We considered 3 major differences in our task compared with the previous ones. First, we monitored apes' eye movements, and specifically their anticipatory looks, to measure their predictions about how agents will behave. Second, we adapted our design from an anticipatory-looking false belief test originally developed for human infants. Third, we developed novel test scenarios that were specifically designed to capture the attention of our ape participants. We then discuss how each difference may help explain differences in performance on our task and previous ones, and finally propose some directions for future studies.
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,459
Awards: Comparative psychology of films: Using cutting edge sensor technologies to study cognition and emotion of apes watching films, Primate foundation of language and altruism, G7483371605, Acquisition of the independence of mind: Evolution and development of the mind liberated from the current external environments, Material intelligence and social intelligence in chimpanzees and bonobos
OpenAlex ID: W2605201788