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Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Assessment of Social Cognition in Non-human Primates Using a Network of Computerized Automated Learning Device (ALDM) Test Systems
Published on: May 5, 2015
Interspecies object exchange: Bartering in apes?
1The Union Institute, Cincinnati, OH 45206, USA; Division of Psychobiology, Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center(1), Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
Abstract:
Of 114 chimpanzees, 55 exchanged non-edible items for food items, indicating a proportion significantly greater than chance. In addition, those animals which did exchange were more likely to when encouraged by human solicitation. These behaviors suggest a social significance beyond simple behavioral economics in processing information about giving and getting. Further, these and several observed manipulations of reward-getting suggest that chimpanzees may also have a limited understanding of the expression and manipulation of the relative values of certain items. The behavioral foundations of and theoretical implications for primate social cognition and economic psychology are discussed.
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