Anna Cheng Writing 20 Talking with Apes Section 25 11/8/11

Annotated Bibliography: Theory of Mind and Language in Primates

I am investigating the concept of theory of mind and its relationship to language, and if nonhuman primates possess theory of mind. Theory of Mind and Language Miller, C.A. (2006). Developmental relationships between language and theory of mind. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 15:14254. Gives an introduction to the concept of theory of mind. Describes the common methods of measuring theory of mind and evaluates the development relationship between language and theory of mind. Provides summaries of empirical evidence on the relationship between language and theory of mind. I am using this source in order to define what theory of mind is and how it is measured. Astington, J. W., & Jenkins, J. M. (1999). A longitudinal study of the relation between language and theory-of-mind development. Developmental Psychology, 35, 13111320. Provides empirical evidence on the relationship between language and theory-of-mind development. Studied fifty-nine 3-year-olds over a seven-month period of time using a standardized measure of language ability (Test of Early Language Development) and false belief tasks and appearance-reality tasks to identify the exact relationship between language and theory of mind. Concludes that language is fundamental to theory of mind development. I am using this source as empirical evidence that the relationship between language and theory of mind exists in a way that language affects theory of mind. Wimmer, H., & Perner, J. (1983). Beliefs about beliefs: Representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young childrens understanding of deception. Cognition, 13, 103128. Gives empirical evidence of the presence of theory of mind in children through a false belief task. Conducted a study on children between 3 and 9-years-old by telling a story and having to distinguish the perspective of a character in the story. Found that as the childrens ages increased, the percentage of passing the task of identifying with the character increased. I will be using this source to show that theory of mind is found in human children so I can build on the fact that children do have theory of mind in the rest of my review article. Nonhuman Primates and Theory of Mind Premack, D. G. & Woodruff, G. (1978). Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1, 515-526. Provides the first piece of evidence of nonhuman primate theory of mind. Conducted a study on one chimpanzee named Sarah by showing her videotapes of different problems encountered and

photographs of the solutions to each scenario. Results show that Sarah recognized the problem and identified with the actor by choosing the correct photographs for each scenario. I will be using this source as a way to introduce the subject of theory of mind in nonhuman primates. Heyes, C. M., 1998, Theory of mind in nonhuman primates, Behav. Brain Sci. 21:101148. Gives a survey of empirical information regarding theory of mind in nonhuman primates. Describes the empirical information in subtopics of imitation, self-recognition, social relationships, deception, role-taking, and perspective-taking. Provides additional information and perspectives through commentaries of other researchers (peer-reviewed). I am using this source as a guide to help sort out empirical evidence in my review article. Povinelli, D.J., Nelson, K.E., & Boysen, S.T. (1990). Inferences about guessing and knowing by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 104, 3, 203-210. Provides empirical evidence on the capability of visual perspectives of chimpanzees. Studies the ability of distinguishing between guessing and knowing in four chimpanzees by making the chimpanzees locate hidden food by modeling visual perspectives of two experimenters (a guesser and a knower). Results show that chimpanzees are capable of making inferences from the mental states of others. Reasons that the question of apes possessing a theory of mind is still controversial due to the fact that the experiment addresses only the relation between seeing and knowing and the distinction between guessing and knowing. I am using this source to provide prior knowledge and empirical information on the topic if nonhuman primates possess theory of mind. Hare, B., Call, J., Agnetta, B., & Tomasello, M. (2000). Chimpanzees know what conspecifics do and do not see. Animal Behaviour, 59, 771-785. Gives empirical evidence on the topic of visual perception and social problem solving between dominant and subordinate chimpanzees. Researchers set up several experiments that vary whether the subordinate can see food before the dominant or not and if the dominant can see the food or not. Subordinate chimpanzees often went to the piece of food that the dominant could not see. Results show that chimpanzees know what others see or cannot see. I will be using this article as empirical evidence for the idea that nonhuman primates have theory of mind. Comparison of Theory of Mind in Nonhuman Primates to Human Children Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (1998). Distinguishing intentional from accidental actions in orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and human children (Homo sapiens). Journal Of Comparative Psychology, 112(2), 192-206. Provides empirical insight on the differences of recognizing intentional and unintentional actions in orangutans, chimpanzees, and human children (ages two to three). Used accidental and intentional markings on boxes that contained food or stickers. Chimpanzees and orangutans were to identify which box contained food by distinguishing, which box was marked intentionally or accidentally, and human children were tested the same way but with stickers. Results show that overall all three species selected the box marked intentionally by the experimenter more

often than the box marked accidentally. I am using this source as empirical evidence for my review article. Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (1999). A nonverbal false belief task: The performance of children and great apes. Child Development, 70, 381395. Provides two studies that were conducted with nonverbal and/or verbal false belief tests. Presents one study with children ages four to five, who were given both nonverbal and verbal false belief tests and another study with two adult orangutans and five adult and sub-adult chimpanzees, which were given a control test and a nonverbal false belief test. Results show that there is a strong correlation between verbal and nonverbal performance and age groups in children and that apes failed the nonverbal false belief task, but passed the control tests. Concludes that apes do not have a theory of mind in a sense of false belief, but that apes do have sophisticated cognitive and social cognitive abilities. I am using this source as empirical evidence of the difference of theory of mind between human children and nonhuman primates. Warneken, F. & Tomasello, M. (2006). Altruistic helping in human infants and young chimpanzees. Science, 31, pp. 1301 Provides empirical evidence of the difference between human children and young chimpanzees in identifying the need for help. Researchers presented 24 18-month-old children and three young chimpanzees with ten situations in which an adult needed help in. Results show that infants helped the adult in six out of the ten tasks while the chimpanzees did not do as well. Concludes that chimpanzees do possess some skills and motivations for helping others, but the skills are not as prominent like those in humans. I will be using this source as empirical evidence that shows the difference of level of theory of mind between human children and nonhuman primates.

Povinelli, D. (1996). Chimpanzee theory of mind?: The long road to strong inference. In: Carruthers, P ., & Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Smith,

P .K.

(Eds.), Theories of theories of mind (pp.293-329).

Hare, B., Call, J., Tomasello, M. (2001) Do chimpanzees know what conspecifics know? Anim. Behav. 61, 139151