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Roots of primate cognition: the Primate Cognition Test Battery applied to three species of lemurs (Microcebus murinus, Varecia variegata and Lemur catta)

灵长类认知的根源：灵长类认知测试电池应用于三种狐猴（Microcebus murinus、Varecia variegata 和 Lemur catta）

基本信息

批准号：
264270577
负责人：
Dr. Claudia Fichtel
金额：
--
依托单位：
Abteilung Verhaltensökologie und Soziobiologie
依托单位国家：
德国
项目类别：
Research Grants
财政年份：
2014
资助国家：
德国
起止时间：
2013-12-31 至 2016-12-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/264270577?language=en
关键词：
Roots primate cognition Primate Cognition

项目摘要

Compared to other mammals, primates, and especially humans, have relatively large brains. Since the brain is energetically very costly, the major question is which factors might have favoured the evolution of such large brains. The Primate Cognition Test Battery (PCTB) represents one systematic approach to finding answers to this central question in anthropology. It consists of a standardized and comprehensive series of cognitive experiments addressing the physical and social domain of cognitive skills. The PCTB has already been used in experiments with humans, apes and two Old World monkey species (Herrmann et al. 2007; Schmitt et al. 2012). These studies revealed that children excel all non-human primates concerning their social cognitive skills. In the physical domain, there were only minor differences across species, although they differ in relative brain size. These results suggest that social cognitive skills have had a decisive influence on brain size evolution. To test this hypothesis and to fully understand the evolution of primate and human intelligence, comparative studies of additional primate species are indicated. Strepsirrhine primates are especially suitable for such a comparative approach, since they belong to the phylogenetically ancestral primates that represent the evolutionary link to other mammals, and, hence, they can serve as living models of the ancestral cognitive skills of primates. Therefore, we will apply the PCTB to three lemur species, Microcebus murinus, Varecia variegata and Lemur catta, which exhibit variation in social organization and complexity. Furthermore, we will test the predictions of one particular hypothesis (i.e. the cooperative breeding hypothesis). It states that the level of allomaternal investment during offspring rearing has an influence on social cognitive skills. Since the three lemur species have different breeding strategies, their performances will be compared in this context. Thus, this study represents the first systematic investigation of the cognitive skills of lemurs and will provide important comparative insights into the cognitive evolution across the entire order Primates.

与其他哺乳动物相比，灵长类动物，尤其是人类，拥有相对较大的大脑。由于大脑在能量上非常昂贵，主要的问题是哪些因素可能有利于如此大的大脑的进化。灵长类动物认知测试（PCTB）代表了一种系统的方法来寻找这个人类学中心问题的答案。它包括一系列标准化和全面的认知实验，解决认知技能的物理和社会领域。PCTB已经用于人类、猿类和两种旧大陆猴的实验（Herrmann et al. 2007; Schmitt et al. 2012）。这些研究表明，儿童在社交认知技能方面优于所有非人类灵长类动物。在物理领域，不同物种之间只有微小的差异，尽管它们的相对大脑大小不同。这些结果表明，社会认知技能对大脑大小的进化有决定性的影响。为了验证这一假设，并充分了解灵长类动物和人类智力的进化，需要对其他灵长类动物进行比较研究。链霉菌灵长类动物特别适合这种比较方法，因为它们属于祖先灵长类动物，代表着与其他哺乳动物的进化联系，因此，它们可以作为灵长类动物祖先认知技能的活模型。因此，我们将PCTB应用于三种狐猴物种，Microcebus murinus， vareccia variegata和lemur catta，这三种狐猴在社会组织和复杂性方面表现出差异。此外，我们将测试一个特定假设（即合作繁殖假设）的预测。研究表明，在子女抚养过程中，异母投资水平对社会认知技能有影响。由于这三种狐猴具有不同的繁殖策略，因此将在此背景下比较它们的表现。因此，这项研究代表了对狐猴认知技能的首次系统调查，并将为整个灵长类动物的认知进化提供重要的比较见解。