Dissertation Research: Social Intelligence in Monkeys and Apes

灵长类动物是高度群居的动物，有着巨大的大脑和高水平的智力。先前对灵长类智力的比较研究忽略了认知的社会维度，而是专注于高度重复的解决问题的任务。最近，一些研究人员提出，与意图和目的归因有关的某些形式的社会智能可能仅限于类人猿和人类。如果这些推测被证明是正确的，那么许多关于智力的社会功能和早期人类社会技能复杂形式的出现的观点将需要修正。在这项研究中，一系列的实验将评估黑猩猩使用自己的经验来推断他人的经验，并将意图和责任归因于他人的命题，而恒河猴则不会。这项研究将为与食物分享、复杂的社会角色和人类文化的非物质方面有关的认知能力提供重要线索。更重要的是，它将为现有模型提供一个关键的测试，该模型假设自我意识不存在于猴子中，而只存在于人类和与人类最密切相关的高等类人猿中。

Primates are highly social animals with large brains and advanced levels of intelligence. Previous comparative studies of primate intelligence have overlooked the social dimension of cognition, and have instead focused on highly repetitive problem-solving tasks. Recently, some researchers have proposed that certain forms of social intelligence, related to the attribution of intent and purpose, may be limited to the great apes and humans. If these speculations turn out to be correct, many ideas concerning the social function of intelligence and the emergence of complex forms of social skills in the earliest humans will need to be revised. In this study a series of experiments will evaluate the proposition that chimpanzees use their own experiences to infer the experiences of others and attribute intent and responsibility to others, whereas rhesus monkeys do not. The research will offer important clues about cognitive capacities linked to food sharing, complex social roles, and non-material aspects of human culture. More importantly, it will provide a critical test of the existing model which postulates that self-awareness exists, not in monkeys, but only in humans and in the higher anthropoids most closely related to humans.