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Updated: Jul 28, 2026
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Assessment of Social Cognition in Non-human Primates Using a Network of Computerized Automated Learning Device (ALDM) Test Systems
Published on: May 5, 2015
Great apes distinguish true from false beliefs in an interactive helping task
David Buttelmann1,2, Frances Buttelmann3,4, Malinda Carpenter1,4
1Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, Germany.
Plos One
|April 6, 2017
Summary
Great apes distinguish between true and false beliefs, indicating a foundational understanding of others' mental states. This challenges the idea that false belief understanding is unique to humans.
Area of Science:
- Comparative Psychology
- Primatology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Understanding psychological states is crucial for social cognition.
- Great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans) understand perceptions, goals, and desires.
- Evidence for great ape understanding of false beliefs, a key human social cognition marker, is limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether great apes possess a basic understanding of false beliefs.
- To determine if great apes can differentiate between an agent's true and false beliefs.
Main Methods:
- A nonverbal (implicit) false-belief test was administered to great apes.
- The test is similar to one passed by human 1-year-old infants.
- Helping behavior was observed to assess belief attribution.
Main Results:
- Great apes, as a group, demonstrated the ability to distinguish between true and false beliefs.
- Their helping behavior varied based on whether the agent held a true or false belief.
- This suggests apes act based on an agent's beliefs about reality.
Conclusions:
- Great apes may possess a basic understanding of false beliefs.
- This capacity might not be exclusive to the human species.
- Findings suggest a more nuanced evolutionary perspective on social cognition.
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