Young children spontaneously invent wild great apes’ tool-use behaviours

The variety and complexity of human-made tools are unique in the animal kingdom. Research investigating why human tool use is special has focused on the role of social learning: while non-human great apes acquire tool-use behaviours mostly by individual (re-)inventions, modern humans use imitation and teaching to accumulate innovations over time. However, little is known about tool-use behaviours that humans can invent individually, i.e. without cultural knowledge. We presented 2- to 3.5-year-old children with 12 problem-solving tasks based on tool-use behaviours shown by great apes. Spontaneous tool use was observed in 11 tasks. Additionally, tasks which occurred more frequently in wild great apes were also solved more frequently by human children. Our results demonstrate great similarity in the spontaneous tool-use abilities of human children and great apes, indicating that the physical cognition underlying tool use shows large overlaps across the great ape species. This suggests that humans are neither born with special physical cognition skills, nor that these skills have degraded due to our species’ long reliance of social learning in the tool-use domain.     

The minimalist grammar of action

Language and action have been found to share a common neural basis and in particular a common 'syntax', an analogous hierarchical and compositional organization. While language structure analysis has led to the formulation of different grammatical formalisms and associated discriminative or generative computational models, the structure of action is still elusive and so are the related computational models. However, structuring action has important implications on action learning and generalization, in both human cognition research and computation. In this study, we present a biologically inspired generative grammar of action, which employs the structure-building operations and principles of Chomsky's Minimalist Programme as a reference model. In this grammar, action terminals combine hierarchically into temporal sequences of actions of increasing complexity; the actions are bound with the involved tools and affected objects and are governed by certain goals. We show, how the tool role and the affected-object role of an entity within an action drives the derivation of the action syntax in this grammar and controls recursion, merge and move, the latter being mechanisms that manifest themselves not only in human language, but in human action too.     

Critically endangered blonde capuchins fish for termites and use new techniques to accomplish the task

We report the spontaneous modification and use of sticks to fish for termites, above the ground, in wild blonde capuchins (Cebus flavius). These critically endangered Neotropical primates inhabit remnants of the Atlantic Forest. They used two previously undescribed techniques to enhance their termite capture success: nest tapping and stick rotation. The current ecologically based explanation for tool use in wild capuchins (i.e. terrestrial habits and bipedalism) must be viewed cautiously. Instead, remarkable manual skills linked to a varied diet seem important in promoting tool use in different contexts. The repertoire of tool-using techniques employed by wild capuchins has been expanded, highlighting the behavioural versatility in this genus.     

Mirroring and the development of action understanding

The discovery of mirror neurons in the monkey motor cortex has inspired wide-ranging hypotheses about the potential relationship between action control and social cognition. In this paper, we consider the hypothesis that this relationship supports the early development of a critical aspect of social understanding, the ability to analyse others’ actions in terms of goals. Recent investigations of infant action understanding have revealed rich connections between motor development and the analysis of goals in others’ actions. In particular, infants’ own goal-directed actions influence their analysis of others’ goals. This evidence indicates that the cognitive systems that drive infants’ own actions contribute to their analysis of goals in others’ actions. These effects occur at a relatively abstract level of analysis both in terms of the structure infants perceive in others’ actions and relevant structure in infants’ own actions. Although the neural bases of these effects in infants are not yet well understood, current evidence indicates that connections between action production and action perception in infancy involve the interrelated neural systems at work in generating planned, intelligent action.     

In Defense of Some `Cartesian' Assumptions Concerning the Brain and Its Operation

I argue against a growing radical trend in current theoretical cognitive science that moves from the premises of embedded cognition, embodied cognition, dynamical systems theory and/or situated robotics to conclusions either to the effect that the mind is not in the brain or that cognition does not require representation, or both. I unearth the considerations at the foundation of this view: Haugeland's bandwidth-component argument to the effect that the brain is not a component in cognitive activity, and arguments inspired by dynamical systems theory and situated robotics to the effect that cognitive activity does not involve representations. Both of these strands depend not only on a shift of emphasis from higher cognitive functions to things like sensorimotor processes, but also depend on a certain understanding of how sensorimotor processes are implemented - as closed-loop control systems. I describe a much more sophisticated model of sensorimotor processing that is not only more powerful and robust than simple closed-loop control, but for which there is great evidence that it is implemented in the nervous system. The is the emulation theory of representation, according to which the brain constructs inner dynamical models, or emulators, of the body and environment which are used in parallel with the body and environment to enhance motor control and perception and to provide faster feedback during motor processes, and can be run off-line to produce imagery and evaluate sensorimotor counterfactuals. I then show that the emulation framework is immune to the radical arguments, and makes apparent why the brain is a component in the cognitive activity, and exactly what the representations are in sensorimotor control.     

Controlling a system with redundant degrees of freedom. I. Torque distribution in still standing stick insects

The question is investigated as to how a stick insect solves the task of distributing its body weight onto its six legs, i.e., how are the torques coordinated that are produced by the 18 joints (3 per leg). Three-dimensional force measurements of ground reaction forces have been used to calculate the torques developed by each of the 18 joints. Torques were found to change considerably although the body and the legs of the animal did not move. This result implies a tight cooperation between the 18 joint controllers. Indeed, in each individual experiment, strong correlations could be observed between specific pairs of joints. However, in spite of thorough analysis, no general correlation rules between torques could be detected. The only common attribute found for all experiments was that high absolute torques observed at the beginning of the experiment tend to converge to some minimum over time. Thus, the insects tend to decrease the torques while standing still, but do not use fixed rules. Rather they appear to exploit their extra degrees of freedom and produce time courses that can strongly vary between experiments. Possible mechanisms underlying this behaviour are discussed in a companion paper [Lévy and Cruse (2008) Controlling a system with redundant degrees of freedom: ii. solution of the force distribution problem without a body model, submitted].     

A word in the hand: action, gesture and mental representation in humans and non-human primates

The movements we make with our hands both reflect our mental processes and help to shape them. Our actions and gestures can affect our mental representations of actions and objects. In this paper, we explore the relationship between action, gesture and thought in both humans and non-human primates and discuss its role in the evolution of language. Human gesture (specifically representational gesture) may provide a unique link between action and mental representation. It is kinaesthetically close to action and is, at the same time, symbolic. Non-human primates use gesture frequently to communicate, and do so flexibly. However, their gestures mainly resemble incomplete actions and lack the representational elements that characterize much of human gesture. Differences in the mirror neuron system provide a potential explanation for non-human primates' lack of representational gestures; the monkey mirror system does not respond to representational gestures, while the human system does. In humans, gesture grounds mental representation in action, but there is no evidence for this link in other primates. We argue that gesture played an important role in the transition to symbolic thought and language in human evolution, following a cognitive leap that allowed gesture to incorporate representational elements.     

Comparative investigations of manual action representations: evidence that chimpanzees represent the costs of potential future actions involving tools

The ability to adjust one's ongoing actions in the anticipation of forthcoming task demands is considered as strong evidence for the existence of internal action representations. Studies of action selection in tool use reveal that the behaviours that we choose in the present moment differ depending on what we intend to do next. Further, they point to a specialized role for mechanisms within the human cerebellum and dominant left cerebral hemisphere in representing the likely sensory costs of intended future actions. Recently, the question of whether similar mechanisms exist in other primates has received growing, but still limited, attention. Here, we present data that bear on this issue from a species that is a natural user of tools, our nearest living relative, the chimpanzee. In experiment 1, a subset of chimpanzees showed a non-significant tendency for their grip preferences to be affected by anticipation of the demands associated with bringing a tool's baited end to their mouths. In experiment 2, chimpanzees' initial grip preferences were consistently affected by anticipation of the forthcoming movements in a task that involves using a tool to extract a food reward. The partial discrepancy between the results of these two studies is attributed to the ability to accurately represent differences between the motor costs associated with executing the two response alternatives available within each task. These findings suggest that chimpanzees are capable of accurately representing the costs of intended future actions, and using those predictions to select movements in the present even in the context of externally directed tool use.     

包容性理念下中国城镇化质量与资源利用协调发展的关系

明晰包容性发展理念下城镇化质量与资源利用的协调发展关系及其限制因素,可为相关部门制定城镇化健康发展路径提供参考.利用基尼系数、探索性空间数据分析和协调度模型,对2000-2016年中国省域城镇化质量与资源利用的协调性进行分析,并采用障碍度模型探索其障碍因子.结果表明:中国城镇化质量与资源利用水平协调性波动上升,呈现"自...     

Effects of upright posture on hand preference for reaching vs. the use of probing tools by tufted capuchins (Cebus apella)

This research examined the effects of task (reaching vs. Tool use) and posture (quadrupedal vs. bipedal) on hand preference in tufted capuchins (Cebus apella). Regarding direction of hand preference, we found a significant main effect of posture, as the bipedal stance elicited greater use of the right hand than did the quadrupedal stance, and a significant posture × task interaction, as bipedal reaching elicited greater use of the right hand than did other postural and task conditions. Further, we found a significant main effect of task on strength of hand preference, as tool use elicited more consistent use of one hand over the other than did reaching. Our findings indicate that bipedal reaching facilitates a mild right-hand bias in intensely manipulative primates. We speculate that this moderate bias may have been pushed in the direction of nearly exclusive right-hand preference in most humans with the development of complex tool use. Am. J. Primatol. 44:147–153, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc. This article is a US Government work and, as such, is in the public domain in the United States of America.     

Stochastically Independent Components in the Analysis of Variance

In this paper an analysis of a sum of squares for linear hypothesis in a fixed linear model is presented. The analysis is based on a partition of sum of squares into independent components. These components are treated as sums of squares for hypotheses implied by an overall one. In the special case components of a sum of squares are distributed with one degree of freedom each and hypotheses concern single parametric functions. In the model not of full rank the form of a sum of squares is transformed before partitioning. The case of the model for cross classification is considered in details. Next the cases of the model of full rank and the one with restrictions on parameters are discussed. The model for balanced design with unweighted restrictions on parameters is considered in details. In this case sume of squares for orthogonal contrasts are obtained from analysis of the sum of squares for hypothesis concerning main or interaction effects.     

长江经济带耕地利用绿色转型与城乡融合耦合协调发展的时空格局研究

在深入实施国家粮食安全战略,协同推进经济高质量发展和生态环境高水平保护背景下,探究耕地利用绿色转型与城乡融合发展的耦合协调是解决耕地保护、生态保育与经济建设之间冲突的关键。从人地关系视角剖析了耕地利用绿色转型与城乡融合发展的耦合机理;通过解读耕地利用绿色转型与城乡融合发展的内涵构建了相关评价指标体系,并以长江经济带130个地级市为例,基于2000、2005、2010、2015和2020年数据,运用耦合协调度模型分析耕地利用绿色转型与城乡融合发展耦合协调的时空格局特征。结果表明:(1)2000-2020年长江经济带耕地利用绿色转型指数由0.208增至0.294,增幅为40.802%,呈现"东北部高西南部低"的分布特征。(2)2000-2020年长江经济带城乡融合发展指数由0.465增至0.492,增幅为5.858%,呈现"中东部高西南部低"的分布特征。(3)2000-2020年长江经济带耕地利用绿色转型与城乡融合发展的耦合协调度由0.556上升到0.612,增幅为11.065%,呈现"中东部高西部低"的分布特征;耦合协调类型从基本协调型转变为中度协调型。各子系统间的耦合协调程度差异较大,耕地利用绿色转型各子系统中,模式转型与城乡融合发展的耦合协调度较低;城乡融合发展各子系统中,人口融合、空间融合与耕地利用绿色转型的耦合协调度较低。(4)耕地利用绿色转型中的模式转型,城乡融合发展中的人口融合、空间融合是长江经济带发展需重点关注的问题。研究结果可为长江经济带耕地资源的优化利用、生态保护以及城乡融合发展提供借鉴。     

Developing the methodology for determining the relative weight of dimensions employed in sustainable building assessment tools for Brazil

The fundamental differences between the dimensions of sustainable development have been identified by researchers and many assessment tools have been developed in several countries. This paper introduces the development of a methodology for determining the weight of each dimension employed in sustainable construction assessment through the use of assessment tools that use the Brazilian indicators of sustainable development in accordance with the Commission on Sustainable Development, and also through the utilization of a database provided by the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute (IBGE). Firstly, the Sustainability Panel tool was employed to reveal separately the status of dimensions in sustainable development (environmental, social and economic) and then it was made a statistical analysis of the results for each region in Brazil (north, northeast, midwest, southeast and south). The solution presented in this paper aims to reduce the inconsistencies found in the adjustments of the assessment tools considering regional differences based on political actions included in governmental agencies.     

‘Captivity bias’ in animal tool use and its implications for the evolution of hominin technology

Animals in captive or laboratory settings may outperform wild animals of the same species in both frequency and diversity of tool use, a phenomenon here termed ‘captivity bias’. Although speculative at this stage, a logical conclusion from this concept is that animals whose tool-use behaviour is observed solely under natural conditions may be judged cognitively or physically inferior than if they had also been tested or observed under controlled captive conditions. In turn, this situation creates a potential problem for studies of the behaviour of extinct members of the human family tree—the hominins—as hominin cognitive abilities are often judged on material evidence of tool-use behaviour left in the archaeological record. In this review, potential factors contributing to captivity bias in primates (including increased contact between individuals engaged in tool use, guidance or shaping of tool-use behaviour by other tool-users and increased free time and energy) are identified and assessed for their possible effects on the behaviour of the Late Pleistocene hominin Homo floresiensis. The captivity bias concept provides one way to uncouple hominin tool use from cognition, by considering hominins as subject to the same adaptive influences as other tool-using animals.