Great Apes and Theory of Mind
I really love finding articles related to the theory of mind and how it applies to great apes.
I just found this article about orangutans and how they are able to communicate with gestures with the humans who work with them - modifying their gestures if they assess their message has not been clearly understood.
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/1517/orangutans-communicate-with-charades
In a paper published in 2007, Zimmerman et al write about primates able to point distally at objects or places (not necessarily food) they want access to. Pointing is not a natural behavior seen in the wild, but can come naturally to language-trained great apes. In experiments, some were able to guide humans to places where an object was hidden, if they saw the human was not able to locate it at first attempt.
http://www.eva.mpg.de/psycho/pdf/Publications_2009_PDF/Zimmermann_et_al_2009.pdf
In a paper published in 2008, Call and Tomasello of the Plank Institute assess the studies performed with great apes and the question posed by Premack and Woodruff 30 years prior: "Does the Chimpanzee Have a Theory of Mind?" with a resounding "yes", but it is different than the theory of mind of humans.
http://email.eva.mpg.de/~tomas/pdf/TICS30.pdf
I just found this article about orangutans and how they are able to communicate with gestures with the humans who work with them - modifying their gestures if they assess their message has not been clearly understood.
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/1517/orangutans-communicate-with-charades
In a paper published in 2007, Zimmerman et al write about primates able to point distally at objects or places (not necessarily food) they want access to. Pointing is not a natural behavior seen in the wild, but can come naturally to language-trained great apes. In experiments, some were able to guide humans to places where an object was hidden, if they saw the human was not able to locate it at first attempt.
http://www.eva.mpg.de/psycho/pdf/Publications_2009_PDF/Zimmermann_et_al_2009.pdf
In a paper published in 2008, Call and Tomasello of the Plank Institute assess the studies performed with great apes and the question posed by Premack and Woodruff 30 years prior: "Does the Chimpanzee Have a Theory of Mind?" with a resounding "yes", but it is different than the theory of mind of humans.
http://email.eva.mpg.de/~tomas/pdf/TICS30.pdf
Apes self-awareness - part 1
Apes self-awareness - part 2
Robert Sapolsky speaks about Theory of Mind
Good reads!
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