Acquisition and Use of Mathematical Skills by a Linguistic Chimpanzee

Dooley, Gwendolyn B.; Gill, Timothy V.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-601850-9.50020-8

Cited by 32 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The chimpanzees were highly proficient in selecting the larger of two food sets when presented with two of the same set-types (whole vs. whole or broken vs. broken). These performance levels in the current study are consistent with previous relative quantity judgment tasks among chimpanzees using food items (e.g., Beran, 2001, 2004, 2012; Beran and Beran, 2004; Boysen and Berntson, 1995; Dooley and Gill, 1977; Hanus and Call, 2007, Rumbaugh et al, 1987; Sayers and Menzel, 2012). …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Chimpanzees are successful in discriminating between food sets when the items are presented in different temporal styles (i.e., sequentially or simultaneously) and in different modalities (i.e., visually or auditory). Moreover, they are successful in quantity discriminations after long durations and when only one set is made visible throughout the choice phase (e.g., Beran, 2001, 2004, 2012; Beran and Beran, 2004; Boysen and Berntson, 1995; Dooley and Gill, 1977; Hanus and Call, 2007, Rumbaugh et al, 1987; Sayers and Menzel, 2012). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Defining value through quantity and quality—Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) undervalue food quantities when items are broken

Parrish

Evans

Beran

2015

Behavioural Processes

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Decision-making is largely influenced by the relative value of choice options, and the value of such options can be determined by a combination of different factors (e.g., the quantity, size, or quality of a stimulus). In this study, we examined the competing influences of quantity (i.e., the number of food items in a set) and quality (i.e., the original state of a food item) of choice items on chimpanzees’ food preferences in a two-option natural choice paradigm. In Experiment 1, chimpanzees chose between sets of food items that were either entirely whole or included items that were broken into pieces before being shown to the chimpanzees. Chimpanzees exhibited a consistent bias for whole food items even when such choice options consisted of a smaller overall quantity of food than the sets containing broken items. In Experiment 2, chimpanzees chose between sets of entirely whole food items and sets of initially whole items that were subsequently broken in view of the chimpanzees just before choice time. Chimpanzees continued to exhibit a bias for sets of whole items. In Experiment 3, chimpanzees chose between sets of new food items that were initially discrete but were subsequently transformed into a larger cohesive unit. Here, chimpanzees were biased to choose the discrete sets that retained their original qualitative state rather than towards the cohesive or clumped sets. These results demonstrate that beyond a food set’s quantity (i.e., the value dimension that accounts for maximization in terms of caloric intake), other seemingly non-relevant features (i.e., quality in terms of a sets original state) affect how chimpanzees assign value to their choice options.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defining value through quantity and quality—Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) undervalue food quantities when items are broken

Parrish

Evans

Beran

2015

Behavioural Processes

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“…Early studies demonstrated that chimpanzees were highly accurate in selecting the larger of two sets of food quantities and were sensitive to very small differences in quantity (Menzel, 1960, 1961; Menzel and Davenport, 1962; Menzel and Draper, 1965). More recent studies have confirmed and contributed to these findings; chimpanzees are proficient in choosing the larger amount of food across a range of conditions (e.g., Beran 2001, 2004, 2012; Beran and Beran, 2004; Boysen and Berntson, 1995; Dooley and Gill, 1977; Hanus and Call, 2007; Rumbaugh et al, 1987 ) . Furthermore, chimpanzees and other great apes also are proficient in conservation tasks (Piaget, 1965) in which they accurately judge quantities when they are spatially transformed into new arrangements (e.g., when liquids are poured into new container shapes and sizes, Muncer, 1983; Suda and Call, 2004, 2005; Woodruff et al, 1978).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Chimpanzees sometimes see fuller as better: Judgments of food quantities based on container size and fullness

Parrish¹,

Beran²

2014

Behavioural Processes

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The context in which food is presented can alter quantity judgments leading to sub-optimal choice behavior. Humans often over-estimate food quantity on the basis of how food is presented. Food appears larger if plated on smaller dishes than larger dishes and liquid volumes appear larger in taller cups than shorter cups. Moreover, smaller but fuller containers are preferred in comparison to larger, but less full containers with a truly larger quantity. Here, we assessed whether similar phenomena occur in chimpanzees. Four chimpanzees chose between two amounts of food presented in different sized containers, a large (2 oz.) and small (1 oz.) cup. When different quantities were presented in the same-sized cups or when the small cup contained the larger quantity, chimpanzees were highly accurate in choosing the larger food amount. However, when different-sized cups contained the same amount of food or the smaller cup contained the smaller amount of food (but looked relatively fuller), the chimpanzees often showed a bias to select the smaller but fuller cup. These findings contribute to our understanding of how quantity estimation and portion judgment is impacted by the surrounding context in which it is presented.

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“…Additionally, chimpanzees perform very well in quantity discrimination tasks when judging visual or auditory food stimuli, presented sequentially or simultaneously (e.g., Beran 2001, 2004, 2012; Beran and Beran 2004; Boysen and Berntson 1995; Dooley and Gill 1977; Hanus and Call 2007; Rumbaugh et al 1987 ) . Chimpanzees also can discriminate very small differences between quantities of food items (e.g., Menzel 1961; Menzel and Davenport 1962), sometimes even matching or exceeding the performance of human adults in these judgments (e.g., Menzel 1960).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

When less is more: like humans, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) misperceive food amounts based on plate size

Parrish

Beran

2013

Anim Cogn

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We investigated whether chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) misperceived food portion sizes depending upon the context in which they were presented, something that often affects how much humans serve themselves and subsequently consume. Chimpanzees judged same-sized and smaller food portions to be larger in amount when presented on a small plate compared to an equal or larger food portion presented on a large plate, and did so despite clearly being able to tell the difference in portions when plate size was identical. These results are consistent with data from the human literature in which people misperceive food portion sizes as a function of plate size. This misperception is attributed to the Delboeuf illusion which occurs when the size of a central item is misperceived on the basis of its surrounding context. These results demonstrate a cross-species shared visual misperception of portion size that affects choice behavior, here in a nonhuman species for which there is little experience with tests that involve choosing between food amounts on dinnerware. The biases resulting in this form of misperception of food portions appear to have a deep-rooted evolutionary history which we share with, at minimum, our closest living nonhuman relative, the chimpanzee.

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Acquisition and Use of Mathematical Skills by a Linguistic Chimpanzee

Cited by 32 publications

References 12 publications

Defining value through quantity and quality—Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) undervalue food quantities when items are broken

Defining value through quantity and quality—Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) undervalue food quantities when items are broken

Chimpanzees sometimes see fuller as better: Judgments of food quantities based on container size and fullness

When less is more: like humans, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) misperceive food amounts based on plate size

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