Can chimpanzee infants (Pan troglodytes) form categorical representations in the same manner as human infants (Homo sapiens)?

We directly compared chimpanzee infants and human infants for categorical representations of three global-like categories (mammals, furniture and vehicles), using the familiarization-novelty preference technique. Neither species received any training during the experiments. We used the time that participants spent looking at the stimulus object while touching it as a measure. During the familiarization phase, participants were presented with four familiarization objects from one of three categories (e.g. mammals). Then, they were tested with a pair of novel objects, one was a familiar-category object and another was a novel-category object (e.g. vehicle) in the test phase. The chimpanzee infants did not show significant habituation, whereas human infants did. However, most important, both species showed significant novelty-preference in the test phase. This indicates that not only human infants, but also chimpanzee infants formed categorical representations of a global-like level. Implications for the shared origins and species-specificity of categorization abilities, and the cognitive operations underlying categorization, are discussed.     

Language and cognitive shifting: evidence from young monolingual and bilingual children

The relationship between language and cognitive shifting in young children was examined. Specifically, second language experiences from infancy as well as individual differences in monolingual language experience may affect performances on the Dimensional Change Card Sort Task. 54 Japanese-French bilingual children and two groups of Japanese monolingual children participated (ns = 18). One monolingual group was matched to the bilingual group on verbal ability and chronological age (VC monolingual group) and the other group was matched by chronological age but had higher verbal ability (C monolingual group). The results showed that the groups of children who were bilingual and monolingual with higher verbal ability performed the task significantly better than matched monolingual children. Language experiences may affect cognitive set shifting in young children.     

Executive Function in Young Children and Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Evidence From a Nonverbal Dimensional Change Card Sort Task

In this article the authors compared chimpanzees’ executive function with that of children. They developed a nonverbal dimensional change card sorting task, which indexed the development of executive function. Three pairs of mother and offspring chimpanzees and 30 typically developed 5-year-old children were presented with 2 target stimuli and a test stimulus comprising 2 dimensions (size and shape) on a display; they were required to sort the test stimulus according to 1 dimension (e.g., shape). After 5 consecutive correct trials, the participants had to sort the test stimulus according to the other dimension (e.g., size). The results showed that the chimpanzees often failed to sort the test stimuli according to the first and reversed dimensions. On the other hand, the children were correctly able to use both dimensions. These results indicate that chimpanzees may have less developed executive skills than children.     

Short-range order in Al-rich 𝛄-TiAl alloys studied by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy with image processing

The atomic arrangements of short-range order (SRO) in two Al-rich γ-TiAl alloys with 62.5 and 60.0at.%Al respectively have been investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy with image processing. For both alloys, SRO structures are formed in Ti-rich (002) layers of the L1₀ ordered γ-TiAl matrix, in the course of the phase transformation from the Al₅ Ti₃ long-period superstructure phase at lower temperatures to the h-Al₂ Ti phase at higher temperatures. The SRO structures are composed of three types of ordered cluster: Ti₄ Al type (square shaped), Ti₃ Al type (fat rhombus shaped) and Ti₂ Al type (lean rhombus shaped). The ordered clusters form local microdomains of the Al₅ Ti₃ and Al₃ Ti₂ superstructures in addition to the Al₅ Ti₃ and h-Al₂ Ti superstructures, by different methods of tiling the ordered clusters. Such ordered clusters or microdomains tend to be in contact with each other through common {310) boundaries. This results in peculiar diffuse streaks in diffraction connecting intensity maxima arising from the long-period superstructures.     

East–West cultural differences in context‐sensitivity are evident in early childhood

Accumulating evidence suggests that North Americans tend to focus on central objects whereas East Asians tend to pay more attention to contextual information in a visual scene. Although it is generally believed that such culturally divergent attention tendencies develop through socialization, existing evidence largely depends on adult samples. Moreover, no past research has investigated the relation between context‐sensitivity and other domains of cognitive development. The present study examined children in the United States and Japan (N = 175, age 4–9 years) to investigate the developmental pattern in context‐sensitivity and its relation to executive function. The study found that context‐sensitivity increased with age across cultures. Nevertheless, Japanese children showed significantly greater context‐sensitivity than American children. Also, context‐sensitivity fully mediated the cultural difference in a set‐shifting executive function task, which might help explain past findings that East Asian children outperformed their American counterparts on executive function.     

An Integrated View of Empathy: Psychology,Philosophy, and Neuroscience

In this paper, we will examine and untangle a conflict mainly between a developmental psychologist, Martin Hoffman and a social psychologist, Daniel Batson. According to Hoffman, empathic distress, a vicarious feeling through empathy, is transformed into an altruistic motivation. Batson and others on the other hand, criticize Hoffman, claiming that empathic altruism has no relation with empathic distress. We will point out some problems with Batson’s position by referring to the results of fMRI experiments that suggest empathic distress and empathic altruism share a common basis, and defend Hoffman’s argument. This will also offer new insights into the evolution of empathy.

Development of cultural strategies of attention in North American and Japanese children

Recent studies suggest that North American adults exhibit a focused strategy of attention that emphasizes focal information about objects, whereas Japanese adults exhibit a divided strategy of attention that emphasizes contextual information about objects. The current study investigated whether 4- and 5-, 6- to 8-, and 9- to 13-year-old North American and Japanese children exhibit these divergent attention strategies. Two experiments suggest that those older than 6 years of age exhibit measurable cultural differences in attention, whereas 4- to 6-year-olds do not. We suggest that sociocognitive development and socialization experiences that occur around 5 to 7 years of age may foster the development of cultural strategies of attention.     

Attention to repeated events in human infants (Homo sapiens): effects of joint visual attention versus stimulus change

The goal of this study was to examine the effect of joint visual attention on infants' behavior during subsequent events. Thirty-seven mother-infant (aged from 9 to 13 months) pairs were twice shown a pair of line drawing stimuli on a computer screen. For the control group, the mother never paid attention to the stimuli. For experimental group 1, the mother pointed to one stimulus in the first presentation but did not point to it in the second presentation. The infants gazed longer at the stimulus pointed to by their mothers in the first presentation. In the second presentation, during which mothers did not attend to the stimuli, infants gazed longer at the stimulus which had been pointed to by the mothers in the first presentation. In experimental group 2, one of two stimuli blinked during the first presentation but not the second presentation. Infants gazed for longer at the blinking stimulus in the first presentation, but there was no difference in looking time toward the two stimuli in the second presentation. These results suggest that joint visual attention affects infants' looking behavior during subsequent events, and that simple stimulus change does not. Accepted after revision: 2 May 2001 Electronic Publication     

Task-Specific Hand Preferences of Two Japanese Macaques on Mirror-Guided Reaching

Hand preferences of two Japanese macaques were observed in five differing tasks: simple reaching for food on a platform; choosing of boxes with pieces of apple; mirror-guided reaching (taking food from the box, key pressing, key tracking). Though these were visually guided tasks, the macaques showed different hand preferences.

     

A Chimpanzee with the Ability to Learn the Use of Personal Pronouns

The Psychological Record - In this research, a female chimpanzee could learn the use of personal pronouns in a conditional matching-to-sample task. In a preliminary experiment, the subject was...