Spontaneous Innovation for Future Deception in a Male Chimpanzee

1. Spontaneous Innovation for Future Deception in a Male Chimpanzee By Mathais Osvath and Elin Karvonen Presented by Zoe Vais

2. Background: Planning • Human planning: evolved from increasingly complex social environments • Planning is a good evolutionary strategy • Low cost • Previous studies showed that chimps were unable to plan for future exchange with humans

3. Background: Foresight • Episodic Memory: remembering, mental constructs of possible future events • Episodic foresight in animals? • Is this observed future-oriented behavior simply a rehearsal of an entire previous experience? or • is it a mental recombining of past experiences to create novel situations?

4. Background: Deception and Innovation • Tactical deception: • When a familiar or normally honest signal is used in a new and misleading way • Innovation: • When an existing signal or other behavior is used in a novel way

5. Background: previous report • Key findings: • Prepares for future throwing even when visitors are outside of perceptual field • Appeared to be a separation between emotional states: calm when collecting/storing, agitated when throwing • Indication of foresight in the episodic system • Not associative learning alone

7. Methods • Subject: • Santino, born in 1978 • Varied groups, both male/female, different ages • Became dominant male at age 16, now the only male • 2010: • Preseason (sporadic groups) • general season (constant visitors) • Ethics: monkey throwing things at people

8. Methods • Two principle methods: • Direct behavioral observations • Recovery of projectiles from the area at the end of the day • Measuring: • Throws and throw attempts: recorded as the position from which the throw was executed. • Hiding: recorded when observer clearly saw at east one projectile being placed out of view.

9. Methods • Recovering projectiles: • At the end of each day, remaining projectiles and hiding spots were documented and removed • Discovered that log concealments may be chance • Two controls: • Scan concrete areas, locate broken concrete • inspected the color

10. Results • Indicates intentional deception and innovation • Deception • Deception: creating a neutral image • Inhibiting aggressive intent in order to get closer • Innovation • Invented a concealment spot using hay in a novel way

11. Results • 4 hidings directly observed • Twice the hay was placed on top • Twice the projectile was placed under hay • 35 out of 45 total recovered projectiles were concealed • Concrete controls: • 18 projectiles found behind 2 of 10 loose concrete spots • At least four did not originate in those spots • Intention: • Did not show display any of the 8 times throwing from concealment • Displayed 7 out of 8 times throwing from visibility • These results are significant

12. Three concealments: hay (15), logs (18), protruding rock (2)

13. Three concealments: hay (15), logs (18), protruding rock (2)

14. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cmBfHsZ9dE#t=85

15. Discussion • Intentional Deception • No hay concealments were hidden behind other concealments • Projectiles had been placed • Concealed projectiles could only be seen from chimp’s POV or not at all • Throws from concealment were not preceded with dominance display • Concealing behaviors were not observed when anyone was in the chimp’s view.

16. Discussion • Less clear: • Why use hay for concealment? • What prompted these behaviors? • Gain: • Use more projectiles in short succession • Throw from close range • Looks like “recombining of components” of past experiences, similar to humans. • Maybe social planning in general is not out of reach for chimps……

17. This chimp demonstrates social planning skills while celebrating the possibility that he has social planning skills.

18. Discussion • Theory of Mind? • Probably not: could be explained as line of gaze • Detached perceptual constructs of others’ behavior • Episodic system: simulate others in potential future situations