Constraints on the exploitation of the functional properties of objects in expert tool-using chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
Constraints on the exploitation of the functional properties of objects in expert tool-using chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
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DOI：
10.1016/j.cortex.2016.05.011
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发表时间：
2016-09-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.6
通讯作者：
Frey, Scott H.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Povinelli, Daniel J.;Frey, Scott H.
许多物种在工具使用和制造过程中利用物体的直接明显尺寸，并对物体的内部感知表示进行操作（它们在空间中移动和重新定向物体，具有使物体变形或修改的操作规则等）。然而，人类在此类操作开始之前会主动测试功能相关的对象属性，即使之前尚未建立对域中特定对象质量的感知。我们假设这种前瞻性诊断干预措施是人类认知功能的专门化，但在神经心理学文献中完全被忽视了。我们向黑猩猩展示了视觉上相同的耙子：一个用于获取食物奖励；另一个用于收集食物。另一个不起作用（其底座是弹簧加载的）。最初，他们了解到只有功能性工具才能获得遥远的奖励。在测试 1 中，我们探讨了他们是否会在选择工具期间（但在使用工具之前）手动测试耙子的刚性。我们没有发现此类行为的证据。在测试 2 中，我们要求猿类在使用非功能性工具之前使其底座变形，以评估这是否会导致它们切换耙子。但事实并非如此。测试 3-6 试图将猿类的注意力集中在功能相关的属性（刚性）上。尽管一只猿最终学会了在使用前放弃无功能的耙子，但她仍然没有尝试在使用前测试耙子的刚性。虽然这些结果强调了黑猩猩使用新工具的能力，但同时它们也指出了人类和猿之间因果推理的根本（且迄今为止尚未探索的）差异。我们认为这种行为差异反映了人类在如何表示对象属性方面的专业化，这可能对我们技术文化的演变做出了重大贡献。我们讨论开发一种新的进化驱动的动作障碍神经心理学研究。 (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. 保留所有权利。
Many species exploit immediately apparent dimensions of objects during tool use and manufacture and operate over internal perceptual representations of objects (they move and reorient objects in space, have rules of operation to deform or modify objects, etc). Humans, however, actively test for functionally relevant object properties before such operations begin, even when no previous percepts of a particular object's qualities in the domain have been established. We hypothesize that such prospective diagnostic interventions are a human specialization of cognitive function that has been entirely overlooked in the neuropsychological literature. We presented chimpanzees with visually identical rakes: one was functional for retrieving a food reward; the other was non-functional (its base was spring-loaded). Initially, they learned that only the functional tool could retrieve a distant reward. In test 1, we explored if they would manually test for the rakes' rigidity during tool selection, but before using it. We found no evidence of such behavior. In test 2, we obliged the apes to deform the non-functional tool's base before using it, in order to evaluate whether this would cause them to switch rakes. It did not. Tests 3-6 attempted to focus the apes' attention on the functionally relevant property (rigidity). Although one ape eventually learned to abandon the non-functional rake before using it, she still did not attempt to test the rakes for rigidity prior to use. While these results underscore the ability of chimpanzees to use novel tools, at the same time they point toward a fundamental (and heretofore unexplored) difference in causal reasoning between humans and apes. We propose that this behavioral difference reflects a human specialization in how object properties are represented, which could have contributed significantly to the evolution of our technological culture. We discuss developing a new line of evolutionarily motivated neuropsychological research on action disorders. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.