Chimpanzee chess! About the amazing cognitive skills of our relatives. :)
The game "chimpanzee chess" is utilized to find out if chimpanzees can imagine what other chimpanzees are thinking about.
As you already might know from my blog I am a passionate chess player ... but did you also hear already of this other kind of 'chess' played by chimpanzees?
At the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology[1] in Leipzig researchers are making experiments to find out if great apes have the ability to understand what other persons (in this case: other great apes) are thinking. These studies reach back to 1978 and last until today.[2]
One way to gather new knowledge is letting the great apes play the so called "chimpanzee chess".
I will present you two versions of this game which both show the amazing cognitive skills of the great apes (as well as the creativity of the scientists to develop target-aimed experiments).
Version 1: the flat lying and the slanted caps.
Two chimpanzees in two different cages are sitting opposite to each other. Between them is placed a table. Then the researcher places a visual cover in front of chimpanzee A so that only chimpanzee B can observe what happens on the table now: the scientist places two banana pellets on a board on the table and covers them with small caps. However one of the banana pellets is lying in a hollow so that the cap lies flat. The other cap lies in a slanted position because of the food under it.
Now the the visual cover in front of chimpanzee A (who didn't see where the scientist put the pellets) is removed again and put in front of chimpanzee B. Chimpanzee A is allowed now to point on one of the two caps. He chooses the cap lying in a slanted position (slanted because of the food under it as he is correctly assuming).
Finally candidate B can choose ... and even if he still doesn't see anything he makes the correct decision: he points to the side of the flat lying cap and gets rewarded with a banana pellet! :) He only could meet the correct decision because of being able to imagine that chimpanzee A had probably chosen the cap lying in the slanted position, so that he himself had to choose the other one to get some food. Amazing, isn't it?
I offer you the abstract of that study[3] as well as a longer description of what has been done in German language.[4]
Version 2: the 'shell game'.
Be honest please: the 'chimpanzee chess' described above was way too complicated for most of us 'normal' Homo sapiens (OK, maybe part of the seemingly complexity could just be the result of my inabilitiy to describe it in appropriate English). :-)
Anyway, I will try to do better concerning version 2 of 'chimpanzee chees' by means of using images. This time the chimpanzees are sitting in front of three cups. Both great apes can observe that the researcher places a grape under the right cup (and then covers it again with the cup).
That's what both candidates know (a grape was placed under the right cup):
Then the researcher places a visual cover in front of chimpanzee A so that only chimpanzee B can observe what happens now: the scientist places another grape under the left cup.
That's what only chimpanzee B knows: under the right and the left cup there is a hidden grape:
Now a visual cover is placed in front of chimpanzee B, and chimpanzee A can make his choice. Of course he chooses the right cup, because he saw that a grape was placed there before (and didn't see that also under the left cup a grape was hidden).
Finally chimpanzee B can make his choice. His great cognitive achievement is that he can put himself in the shoes of chimpanzee A! He knows that chimpanzee A only has seen that the researcher has put a grape under the right cup and probably did choose the right side. He also don't know if something is lying under the cup in the middle. Therefore he chooses the left cup and gets his well deserved reward.
You can also find a description of the experiment in German language.[5]
Sources:
- https://www.mpg.de/eva-de
- http://www.eva.mpg.de/psycho/pdf/Call&Tomasello2008TICS.pdf
- http://www.pnas.org/content/108/7/3077.abstract
- https://www.dasgehirn.info/denken/im-kopf-der-anderen/schimpansen-schach
- http://www.rp-online.de/panorama/wissen/denkvermoegen-von-tieren-wird-unterschaetzt-aid-1.3800322
REALLY REALLY IMPRESSIVE POST!! Always been a fan of monkeys, apes, etc and always have been fascinated with research and findings such as this as scientists learn more and more about their brains - I honestly can not comprehend how anyone at all can not unequivocally believe in humans evolving from monkeys
Yes, right, but some people misinterpret things and claim according to evolution theory Homo sapiens would originate form the chimpanzee (which of course no scientists said). Then it is important to make clear that both just have common ancestors, and are different branches of the same tree.
Very well said "different branches from the same tree" I could not have said it better myself!!
A lot of animal behavior experiments can be fascinating. Its always interesting to see how researchers design an experiment to give the animal an opportunity to demonstrate intelligence. These are great examples and I'd love to hear about more.
Well, I understood everything. This was pretty crystal clear to me. I like this kind of experiments. Animals are way more intelligent than we think they are :)
Yes, right, I am fascinated how even invertebrates like Cephalopoda or bees show amazing cognitive skills.
I must admit I didn't read the two posts you are referring to... Am doing it right now! :)
Most of the humas don't realize how close our relationship with some animals actually is. I recommend readhing the book "Sapiens" - it gives some mindblowing points of view.
Do you know that book?
Edit:// Gibts natürlich auch in ner deutschen Verfassung falls dir das lieber sein sollte ;)
Do you mean this one?
Hey @jaki01
It is really awesome to see what our animal relatives are capable of. But also very sad in concern of what humans did to them in the past. Maybe they would've evolved even more in the past decades if they wouldn't have been reduced to the amount of living ones today.
Well we also came by to tell you that one of your photographies was mentioned in our Community-Art series! Here they are:
https://steemit.com/art/@uniquecosmos/steemit-community-art-3-let-us-create-this-world-together-hosted-by-uniquecosmos
Best wishes from the future!
Yes, I agree, it is so sad how (just as an example) the peaceful orangutans are treated by us in southeast Asia.
Another great article about intelligence in animals!
I like this recent change of topics to more sciency stuff :)
Haha, it may only be an episode. :) Just let's wait see what my moodily mind will do next ... I myself don't know it yet.
@jaki01 extraordinary
I am amazed the contents of your post, really interesting.
it is a useful science for me, I will look for more in the next, which is related to the discussion that is in your post this.
thanks for sharing
The Dawn of the Apes!
Chimps have very developed intelligence which is cool!
Upvote!
an interesting game for chimpanzees.
I like it
interesting post thanks for sharing
Have a nice day @jaki01