A comparative and developmental study on mental operation of internal representations

这个项目的目的是通过对这一认知活动的比较和发展的方法，阐明心理操作各种内部表征的能力的演变。得到的一些结果包括：我们发现：a)簇毛卷尾猴能够识别它们记忆痕迹的强度。然而，这种元记忆并不像他们识别记忆痕迹的详细内容那样精致。B)鸽子和人类儿童在解决计算机化迷宫问题时计划他们未来的行为。也就是说，当令牌突然移动时，他们经常会将令牌错误地移动到旧的目标位置。C)狗和松鼠猴子在听到看门人的声音时会回忆起看门人的面孔，即它们在心理表征中自发地将听觉信息转换成相应的视觉图像。D)簇毛卷尾猴使它们的问题解决行为适应它们对伴侣猴子不正确行为的观察。也就是说，他们从别人的愚蠢中学习智慧。E)鸽子感觉到了几种几何错觉。然而，在某些情况下，它们的知觉扭曲方向与人类相反。F)家犬能够从覆盖在物体上的织物的形状推断出物体的存在。G)簇毛卷尾猴能够推断他人面部表情的原因。H)簇毛卷尾猴对他人的福利很敏感，并根据社会情况不同地分享食物。I)簇毛卷尾猴能够识别眼睛状态所暗示的人类注意力。所有这些结果表明，许多非人类动物物种能够在精神上操作各种社会和物理信息的内部表征。这个项目比原计划提前一年结束，因为我们成功地获得了新的上级拨款(科学研究(S))。

The purpose of this project was to shed light to the evolution of abilities to mentally operate various internal representations by a comparative and developmental approach to this cognitive activity. Some of the results obtained include the following; we showed that: a)Tufted capuchin monkeys were able to recognize strength of their memory trace. However, such metamemory was not as refined as they recognized the detailed contents of the memory trace. b)Pigeons and human children planned their future behavior in solving a computerized maze problem. That is, they often made incorrect movements of the token toward the old goal location when it was suddenly moved. c)Dogs and squirrel monkeys recalled their caretakers' faces when they heard voices of the caretakers; that is, they spontaneously convert auditory information into corresponding visual images in their mental representation. d)Tufted capuchin monkeys adapted their problem solving behavior to their observation of partner monkey's incorrect acts. That is, they learn wisdom from the follies of others. e)Pigeons perceived several geometric illusions. However, in some cases, their perceptual distortion was in the direction opposite to humans'. f)Domestic dogs were able to infer existence of objects from the shape of the fabric that covered the objects. g)Tufted capuchin monkeys were able to infer causes of others' facial expression. h)Tufted capuchin monkeys were sensitive to others' welfare and shared food differentially depending upon social situations. i)Tufted capuchin monkeys were able to recognize human attention suggested by the states of eyes. All of these results suggest that many nonhuman animal species are capable of mentally operating various internal representations of social and physical information. This project ended one year earlier than planned because we succeeded to obtain a new superior grant(Scientific Research(S)).