SOCIAL LEARNING AND CULTURE IN CHIMPANZEES

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中的一个 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源。子项目和 研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金， 因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。所列机构为 研究中心，而研究中心不一定是研究者所在的机构。 在本报告所述期间，我们研究了户外圈养黑猩猩群体的社会学习过程： 社会传播的机制是什么：类人猿有真正的模仿能力吗？这一点受到了一些调查人员的质疑。我们一直处于设计模仿测试的最前沿，使用“人造水果”（一种拼图盒），并发现了已被广泛接受的积极结果。 行为如何在群体中传播？到目前为止，大多数研究都是让黑猩猩接受人类行为的影响，看看它是如何传播的，但我们想知道黑猩猩之间的传播，这是自然栖息地中唯一重要的传播方式。 我们使用拼图盒和翻新的测试设备，并正在对黑猩猩进行模仿实验。与之前的所有研究相比，评估这些研究的独特之处在于，黑猩猩学习的模型将是同种的。这一系列的实验更接近自然环境中的社会传播过程。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. During the reporting period we studied the process of social learning in outdoor housed groups of chimpanzees: What is the mechanism of social transmission: are apes capable of true imitation? This has been questioned by several investigators. We have been at the forefront designing tests of imitation, using "artificial fruits" (a sort of puzzle box), and finding positive results that have been widely accepted. How does behavior spread in a group? Thus far, most studies have subjected chimpanzees to human behavior to see how it spreads, but we want to know about chimp-to-chimp transmission, which is the only kind of transmission that matters in the natural habitat. We use puzzle boxes and a renovated testing facility and are in the process of imitation experiments on the chimpanzees. The unique feature of evaluating these studies, compared to all studies done before, is that the models from which the chimpanzees will learn will be conspecifics. This series of experiments matches more closely the processes of social transmission in the natural environment.