Tag

Comparative Psychology

All articles tagged with #comparative psychology

science2 months ago•7 min saved

Ape Cognition Breaks the Human-Centric Mold

An 18-month study of 48 individual great apes across four species (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans) shows cognition is highly individualized and stable, with performance strongly predicted by rearing, sex, and social group; unlike humans, ape social-task performances show zero correlation with other social tasks, while nonsocial tasks are correlated, revealing a distinct ape cognitive architecture and underscoring the need for ape-specific, non-anthropocentric assessment tools to understand cognition and its evolution.

via Neuroscience News|

#cognition #comparative-psychology #great-apes

animal-behavior2 years ago•4 min saved

Primate Memory: Apes Retain Recognition of Peers for Over 25 Years

A study conducted on chimpanzees and bonobos has shown that these apes can recall the faces of other apes that they have not seen for years, with one bonobo recognizing a face after 26 years, setting a record for facial memory beyond our species. The apes consistently spent more time looking at their former companions, suggesting the presence of long-term memories. The researchers speculate that these durable memories may benefit the apes by allowing them to form alliances with old acquaintances encountered years later. The study also hints at the possibility of positive experiences strengthening these memories. The findings suggest that long-lived memories may have been vital to our own evolution as humans.

via The New York Times|

#animal-behavior #bonobos #chimpanzees