Use of a Physical Representation of Space by Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes): Comparative Perspectives on Scale Model Comprehension

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Kuhlmeier, Valerie A.
Language:	English
Published:	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK 2000
Subjects:	Psychology
Online Access:	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392797752

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spelling	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu13927977522021-08-03T06:22:10Z Use of a Physical Representation of Space by Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes): Comparative Perspectives on Scale Model Comprehension Kuhlmeier, Valerie A. Psychology Although there is a rich body of research exploring the ability of animals to navigate within space, there are limited examinations of their ability to understand physical representations of space, such as maps or scale models. The present studies took advantage of a growing body of literature describing children’s abilities to use physical representations, and examined the capacity of chimpanzees to comprehend the representational nature of one such artifact, a scale model. Seven chimpanzees were tested using a procedure patterned closely on studies with children. A chimpanzee watched as an experimenter hid a miniature item within a hiding site in a scale model of an outdoor enclosure. The subject was then allowed access to the enclosure to find a full- size item, hidden in the analogous location. Thus, if the chimpanzee was able to generalize from the model to the enclosure, it should locate the hidden item immediately upon entering the enclosure.During the first study, the chimpanzee group found the item at levels above chance; however, the task was difficult for some subjects, specifically the males. The second study examined which features of the scale model were recognized as sources of information for searching the enclosure. The data suggested that, when the hiding sites were perceptually unique, subjects were more likely to use the correspondence between the individual hiding sites to solve the task, rather than the overall spatial/relational correspondence among the sites in the model and the enclosure. However, when the hiding sites were identical, the subjects attended to the spatial correspondence. Finally, the third study examined the effects of manipulations of task demands on the performance of previously unsuccessful chimpanzees. The data suggested that the addition of a response cost and the absence of a food reward led to improved performance.Overall, the three studies represent an analysis of the ability of a non-human species to use a physical object as a representation of their environment. The use of a test procedure virtually identical to that used with children revealed both similarities and differences between chimpanzees and children in the comprehension and use of representations of space. 2000 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392797752 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392797752 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection	NDLTD
language	English
sources	NDLTD
topic	Psychology
spellingShingle	Psychology Kuhlmeier, Valerie A. Use of a Physical Representation of Space by Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes): Comparative Perspectives on Scale Model Comprehension
author	Kuhlmeier, Valerie A.
author_facet	Kuhlmeier, Valerie A.
author_sort	Kuhlmeier, Valerie A.
title	Use of a Physical Representation of Space by Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes): Comparative Perspectives on Scale Model Comprehension
title_short	Use of a Physical Representation of Space by Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes): Comparative Perspectives on Scale Model Comprehension
title_full	Use of a Physical Representation of Space by Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes): Comparative Perspectives on Scale Model Comprehension
title_fullStr	Use of a Physical Representation of Space by Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes): Comparative Perspectives on Scale Model Comprehension
title_full_unstemmed	Use of a Physical Representation of Space by Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes): Comparative Perspectives on Scale Model Comprehension
title_sort	use of a physical representation of space by chimpanzees (pan troglodytes): comparative perspectives on scale model comprehension
publisher	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
publishDate	2000
url	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392797752
work_keys_str_mv	AT kuhlmeiervaleriea useofaphysicalrepresentationofspacebychimpanzeespantroglodytescomparativeperspectivesonscalemodelcomprehension
_version_	1719435536389636096

Use of a Physical Representation of Space by Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes): Comparative Perspectives on Scale Model Comprehension

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