Mulcahy Nicholas J, Call Josep
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
Anim Cogn. 2006 Jul;9(3):193-9. doi: 10.1007/s10071-006-0019-6. Epub 2006 Apr 13.
To date, neither primates nor birds have shown clear evidence of causal knowledge when attempting to solve the trap tube task. One factor that may have contributed to mask the knowledge that subjects may have about the task is that subjects were only allowed to push the reward away from them, which is a particularly difficult action for primates in certain problem solving situations. We presented five orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), two chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), two bonobos (Pan paniscus), and one gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) with a modified trap tube that allowed subjects to push or rake the reward with the tool. In two additional follow-up tests, we inverted the tube 180 degrees rendering the trap nonfunctional and also presented subjects with the original task in which they were required to push the reward out of the tube. Results showed that all but one of the subjects preferred to rake the reward. Two orangutans and one chimpanzee (all of whom preferred to rake the reward), consistently avoided the trap only when it was functional but failed the original task. These findings suggest that some great apes may have some causal knowledge about the trap-tube task. Their success, however, depended on whether they were allowed to choose certain tool-using actions.
迄今为止，在尝试解决陷阱管任务时，灵长类动物和鸟类都没有表现出明确的因果关系认知证据。可能导致掩盖受试者对该任务所具备知识的一个因素是，受试者只被允许将奖励物推离自己，而在某些解决问题的情境中，这对灵长类动物来说是一项特别困难的动作。我们给五只猩猩（婆罗洲猩猩）、两只黑猩猩（普通黑猩猩）、两只倭黑猩猩（倭黑猩猩）和一只大猩猩（西部大猩猩）呈现了一个经过改良的陷阱管，该陷阱管允许受试者用工具推或耙取奖励物。在另外两项后续测试中，我们将管子旋转180度，使陷阱失去作用，并且还向受试者呈现了原始任务，即要求它们将奖励物推出管子。结果显示，除一只受试者外，其他所有受试者都更喜欢用耙子获取奖励物。两只猩猩和一只黑猩猩（它们都更喜欢用耙子获取奖励物），仅在陷阱起作用时始终避开陷阱，但在原始任务中失败了。这些发现表明，一些大猩猩可能对陷阱管任务有一定的因果关系认知。然而，它们的成功与否取决于是否允许它们选择某些使用工具的动作。
