Chimpanzees’ Use Of Hand Gestures To ‘Coordinate’ Activities An ‘Important Building Block’ In Evolut
Chimpanzees’ Use Of Hand Gestures To ‘Coordinate’ Activities An ‘Important Building Block’ In Evolution Of Language
By Philip Ross
on January 18 2014 7:56 PM
Scientists have found that chimpanzees, our closest living relatives with whom we share 98 percent of our genes, are able to use hand gestures to achieve shared goals. Humans working with chimps raised in captivity in the U.S. designed experiments in which the primates directed their human handlers toward hidden food using hand motions. Scientists believe the study could provide clues about the basics of language development.
Researchers from Georgia State University’s Language Research Center devised a set of experiments that required collaboration between the humans and the chimpanzees. The results of their study, published in the journal Nature Communications, suggest our understanding of chimpanzee behavior is constantly evolving and gives insight into the power of chimpanzees’ memory and their grasp of gestural language.
“Humans routinely communicate to coordinate their activities, persisting and elaborating signals to pursue goals that cannot be accomplished individually,” the study authors noted. “Communicative persistence is associated with complex cognitive skills such as intentionality, because interactants modify their communication in response to another’s understanding of their meaning.”
The study involved experimenters hiding food in an outdoor area and having the chimps direct a researcher, who did not know the whereabouts of the concealed item, toward the food. Researchers relied on the chimps, directional cues to find the food.
More:
http://www.ibtimes.com/chimpanzees-use-hand-gestures-coordinate-activities-important-building-block-evolution-language