These apes can tell when humans don’t know something, study finds
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Some great apes realize when a human partner doesn’t know something and are capable of communicating information to them to change their behavior, a new study shows.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University studying bonobos found that they would point to where treats were hidden if they could see their human partner didn’t know where they were, according to a statement from the university, published Monday.
Working with three male bonobos, study co-author Luke Townrow, a Johns Hopkins PhD student, would sit across a table from one of the animals as another person placed a treat under one of three cups.
In some cases, Townrow would be allowed to see which cup the treat was under, and the bonobo would wait for him to pass it the food.
At other times, he would not be able to see where the treat was, and the bonobo would point to the right cup to help him find the food.
The “seemingly simple experiment that demonstrated for the first time that apes will communicate unknown information in the name of teamwork,” the statement reads.
And study co-author Chris Krupenye, a Johns Hopkins assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences, told CNN that the study “is one of the clearest pieces of evidence that a non-human primate understands when someone else is ignorant.”
This ability to intuit gaps in others’ knowledge is known as theory of mind.
“As humans we have theory of mind, the ability to think about others’ perspectives,” Krupenye told CNN on Tuesday.
