Taylor Alex H, Cheke Lucy G, Waismeyer Anna, Meltzoff Andrew N, Miller Rachael, Gopnik Alison, Clayton Nicola S, Gray Russell D
Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK Department of Psychology, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK.
Proc Biol Sci. 2014 Jul 22;281(1787). doi: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0837. Epub 2014 Jun 11.
Humans are capable of simply observing a correlation between cause and effect, and then producing a novel behavioural pattern in order to recreate the same outcome. However, it is unclear how the ability to create such causal interventions evolved. Here, we show that while 24-month-old children can produce an effective, novel action after observing a correlation, tool-making New Caledonian crows cannot. These results suggest that complex tool behaviours are not sufficient for the evolution of this ability, and that causal interventions can be cognitively and evolutionarily disassociated from other types of causal understanding.
人类能够仅仅通过观察因果关系，然后创造出一种新的行为模式来重现相同的结果。然而，尚不清楚创造这种因果干预的能力是如何进化的。在这里，我们表明，虽然24个月大的儿童在观察到一种关联后能够做出有效的新动作，但制造工具的新喀里多尼亚乌鸦却做不到。这些结果表明，复杂的工具行为对于这种能力的进化并不充分，而且因果干预在认知和进化上可能与其他类型的因果理解相分离。
