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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 15, 2025

Assessment of Social Cognition in Non-human Primates Using a Network of Computerized Automated Learning Device ALDM Test Systems

Assessment of Social Cognition in Non-human Primates Using a Network of Computerized Automated Learning Device ALDM Test Systems

Published on: May 5, 2015

Chimpanzees consider alternative possibilities.

Jan M Engelmann¹, Christoph J Völter², Cathal O'Madagain³

¹Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650, USA.

Current Biology : CB

|October 26, 2021

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Chimpanzees can reason about alternative possibilities, challenging previous research. This suggests that the capacity for considering

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Last Updated: Oct 15, 2025

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Comparative Psychology
Evolutionary Psychology

Background:

Human cognition involves reasoning about actual and possible events, crucial for moral judgment, planning, and causal understanding.
Chimpanzees exhibit related cognitive skills like future planning, action evaluation, and causal reasoning.
Previous research suggested chimpanzees cannot represent alternative possibilities.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the evolutionary origins of reasoning about alternative possibilities.
To directly test whether chimpanzees can represent alternative possibilities.
To challenge previous findings on chimpanzee's ability to consider alternatives.

Main Methods:

Development and application of a novel experimental method to assess reasoning about alternatives in chimpanzees.
Direct testing of chimpanzee's cognitive abilities in representing possibilities beyond the actual state of events.

Main Results:

Results challenge the conclusion that chimpanzees cannot represent alternative possibilities.
Evidence suggests chimpanzee thought extends beyond actual events to consider what could be.
Findings indicate a shared capacity for reasoning about alternatives between humans and chimpanzees.

Conclusions:

Chimpanzee cognition is not limited to present realities but includes reasoning about alternative possibilities.
This capacity for considering alternatives may be an evolutionary precursor to complex human thought.
Further research is needed to fully understand the scope and evolutionary trajectory of this cognitive ability.