Distal Communication by Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Evidence for Common Ground?

David A. Leavens; Lisa A. Reamer; Mary Catherine Mareno; Jamie L. Russell; Daniel Wilson; Steven J. Schapiro; William D. Hopkins

doi:10.1111/cdev.12404

Distal Communication by Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Evidence for Common Ground?

David A. Leavens, Lisa A. Reamer, Mary Catherine Mareno, Jamie L. Russell, Daniel Wilson, Steven J. Schapiro, William D. Hopkins

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

Van der Goot et al. (2014) proposed that distal, deictic communication indexed the appreciation of the psychological state of a common ground between a signaler and a receiver. In their study, great apes did not signal distally, which they construed as evidence for the human uniqueness of a sense of common ground. This study exposed 166 chimpanzees to food and an experimenter, at an angular displacement, to ask, "Do chimpanzees display distal communication?" Apes were categorized as (a) proximal or (b) distal signalers on each of four trials. The number of chimpanzees who communicated proximally did not statistically differ from the number who signaled distally. Therefore, contrary to the claim by van der Goot et al., apes do communicate distally.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1623-1638
Number of pages	16
Journal	Child development
Volume	86
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12404
State	Published - Sep 1 2015

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
Education
Developmental and Educational Psychology

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10.1111/cdev.12404

Cite this

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abstract = "Van der Goot et al. (2014) proposed that distal, deictic communication indexed the appreciation of the psychological state of a common ground between a signaler and a receiver. In their study, great apes did not signal distally, which they construed as evidence for the human uniqueness of a sense of common ground. This study exposed 166 chimpanzees to food and an experimenter, at an angular displacement, to ask, {"}Do chimpanzees display distal communication?{"} Apes were categorized as (a) proximal or (b) distal signalers on each of four trials. The number of chimpanzees who communicated proximally did not statistically differ from the number who signaled distally. Therefore, contrary to the claim by van der Goot et al., apes do communicate distally.",

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AU - Russell, Jamie L.

AU - Wilson, Daniel

AU - Schapiro, Steven J.

AU - Hopkins, William D.

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Distal Communication by Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Evidence for Common Ground?

Abstract

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