Visual attention and its relation to knowledge states in chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes
Primates rely on visual attention to gather knowledge about their environment. The ability to recognize such knowledge-acquisition activity in another may demonstrate one aspect of Theory of Mind. Using a series of experiments in which chimpanzees were presented with a choice between an experimenter whose visual attention was available and another whose vision was occluded, […]
Attention to combined attention in New World monkeys (Cebus apella, Saimiri sciureus)
Co-orientation by capuchin (Cebus apella) and squirrel (Saimiri sciureus) monkeys in response to familiar humans abruptly switching the direction of their visual attention was recorded. Co-orientation occurred more frequently overall in capuchins than squirrel monkeys. Capuchins showed a tendency to habituate within trials involving consecutive attention switches performed by 2 different people, whereas squirrel monkeys […]
Bonobos and chimpanzees infer the target of another’s attention
We examined the ability of bonobos, Pan paniscus (N ¼ 39), and chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes (N ¼ 74), to infer the target of an experimenter’s visual attention in a series of three experiments. In each experiment subjects were first introduced to a novel object while an experimenter’s (E1) visual access to this object was manipulated […]
Leopard frog priorities in choosing between prey at different locations
Frogs are able to respond to a prey stimulus throughout their 360° ground-level visual field as well as in the superior visual field. We compared the likelihood of frogs choosing between a more nasally located, ground-level prey versus a more temporally located ground-level prey, when the prey at the nasal location is further away from […]
The effect of body orientation on judgments of human visual attention in western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)
The ability to appreciate the attentional states of others is an important element used in discerning the presence of Theory of Mind in an individual. Whether primates are able to recognize attention, and further, use such information to predict behavior, remains contentious. In this study, six western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) were tested under […]