Investigating self-recognition in bonobos: mirror exposure reduces looking time to self but not unfamiliar conspecifics

PeerJ

article

Gladez Shorland¹  Emilie Genty¹  Jean-Pascal Guéry³  Klaus Zuberbühler¹ 

[1] Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel;Institute of Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Neuchâtel;La Vallée des Singes Zoological park;School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St. Andrews

关键词: Delayed self-recognition;    Mental representation;    Looking time;    Pan paniscus;    Self-awareness;    Primate cognition;    Social intelligence;    Intelligence;    Theory of mind;    Evolution of cognition;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.9685

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

The question of whether animals have some sort of self-awareness is a topic of continued debate. A necessary precondition for self-awareness is the ability to visually discriminate the self from others, which has traditionally been investigated through mirror self-recognition experiments. Although great apes generally pass such experiments, interpretations of results have remained controversial. The aim of this study was to investigate how bonobos (Pan paniscus) respond to different types of images of themselves and others, both before and after prolonged mirror exposure. We first presented presumably mirror-naive subjects with representations of themselves in three different ways (mirror image, contingent and non-contingent video footage) as well as representations of others (video footage of known and unknown conspecifics). We found that subjects paid significantly less attention to contingent images of themselves (mirror image, video footage) than to non-contingent images of themselves and unfamiliar individuals, suggesting they perceived the non-contingent self-images as novel. We then provided subjects with three months of access to a large mirror centrally positioned in the enclosure. Following this manipulation, subjects showed significantly reduced interest in the non-contingent self-images, while interest in unknown individuals remained unchanged, suggesting that the mirror experience has led to a fuller understanding of their own self. We discuss implications of this preliminary investigation for the on-going debate on self-awareness in animals.

【 授权许可】

CC BY