The goal of ape pointing

Area of Science:

• Primatology
• Animal Communication
• Cognitive Ethology

Background:

• Captive great apes frequently use pointing gestures when interacting with humans.
• The specific communicative function of ape pointing gestures remains unclear, with possibilities including attention-direction or action-requesting.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether great apes (chimpanzees and bonobos) use pointing gestures primarily to direct attention or to make action requests.
• To examine how the recipient's looking behavior influences the pointing behavior of apes.

Main Methods:

• Subjects were chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus) in a captive setting.
• Apes pointed to food, and their pointing duration was measured based on whether the human recipient looked at the indicated object (successful-look) or not (failed-look).

Main Results:

• Ape pointing duration differed significantly between successful-look and failed-look conditions.
• Contrary to predictions, subjects spent more time pointing in the successful-look condition.
• A higher prevalence of strong right-hand preference for pointing was observed compared to left-hand preference.

Conclusions:

• Great apes appear sensitive to the attentional states of their gestural recipients.
• The findings suggest that ape pointing serves multiple communicative goals beyond simple attention-direction or action-requesting.
• The study provides insights into the nuanced communicative abilities and gesture production in great apes.