Exploitation of pointing as a referential gesture in young children, but not adolescent chimpanzees

Author(s): Reaux, J. E., Bierschwale, D. T., Allain, A. D., Simon, B. B.

Journal/Book: Cognitive Develop. 1997; 12: 55 Old Post Rd NO.2, PO Box 5297, Greenwich, CT 06831-0504. Ablex Publ Corp. 327-365.

Abstract: The ability of adolescent chimpanzees and 2- and 3-year-old children to use pointing gestures to locate hidden surprises was examined in two experiments. The results revealed that although young 2-year-old children appeared to have no difficulty extracting referential information from a pointing gesture (independent of gaze or distance cues) and spontaneously using it to search in specific locations, adolescent chimpanzees appeared to rely on cue-configuration and distance-based rules. Thus, although these chimpanzees were trained to respond appropriately to the pointing gestures of a human by searching in a particular location, this ability did not easily generalize to situations in which the distance between the pointing hand and the location were more distal. Furthermore, even those chimpanzees that were able to generalize in this fashion appeared to use distance-based cues, not ones based on an appreciation of the internal attentional focus or mental referent of the experimenter as indicated by his pointing gesture.

Note: Article Povinelli DJ, Univ SW Louisiana, Div Behav Biol, New Iberia Res Ctr, 4401 W Admiral Doyle Dr, New Iberia,LA 70506 USA

Keyword(s): JOINT VISUAL-ATTENTION; PAN-TROGLODYTES; ROLE REVERSAL; NO EVIDENCE; COMMUNICATION; COMPREHENSION; MONKEYS; INFANCY; EMPATHY; MECHANISMS

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