A fascinating study published in the open-access journal PLOS Biology sheds light on the visual tracking abilities of great apes, revealing startling similarities to humans.
This research, led by Vanessa Wilson and her team from the University of Neuchatel in Switzerland, explores how both humans and great apes interpret scenarios involving interactions, such as a cat chasing a mouse.
Understanding Agent-Patient Dynamics
For humans, this understanding occurs instinctively; we deftly switch our attention between the cat—acting as the agent—and the mouse—serving as the patient.
This ability to grasp their relationship plays a crucial role in the evolution of language and our understanding of its structure.
To determine whether great apes possess this same capability of recognizing the agent-patient dynamic, the researchers showed 84 short video clips to 14 adults.
Simultaneously, they observed five chimpanzees, two gorillas, and two orangutans at the Basel Zoo to compare their reactions.
Additionally, 29 infants aged six months were included in the assessment to examine developmental differences.
Comparative Results and Observations
The results were quite revealing.
Both the non-human primates and adult humans concentrated more on the agents and patients in the videos rather than the background distractions.
Interestingly, both groups frequently alternated their gaze between the two characters, but they exhibited distinct patterns.
When food appeared onscreen, both humans and apes paid extra attention to the agents.
However, humans fixated more intently on these central figures, while the apes remained more cognizant of their overall environment.
In contrast, the six-month-old infants tended to focus primarily on the background, highlighting a shift in how attention is directed as cognitive abilities mature.
Implications for Language Development
These findings suggest that the cognitive skills required to organize and understand events likely originated before language itself.
The ability to distinguish between agents and patients seems to be a shared cognitive trait, indicating a link between humans and great apes that points to a spectrum of cognitive abilities rather than a clear divide.
The researchers stress that more investigation is needed to understand the reasons behind the differences in communication methods between great apes and humans, as well as to delve into the origins of human language.
In sum, the eye-tracking data from this study provide compelling evidence that great apes, much like adult humans, can engage in analyzing causal interactions by assigning roles of agent and patient.
This process is fundamental to language development and reinforces the idea that such event-tracking abilities evolved significantly before the emergence of human language.
Source: ScienceDaily