Cartmill Erica A, Hobaiter Catherine
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, Box 951553, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, KY16 9JP, UK.
Anim Cogn. 2019 Jul;22(4):453-459. doi: 10.1007/s10071-019-01279-w.
This paper is an introduction to the special issue entitled Evolving the study of gesture: evaluating and unifying theories of gesture acquisition in great apes. The gestures of great apes have been recorded in scientific literature for over 100 years, but the ways in which apes acquire their gestures remains a highly debated topic. Through this historical framework, we summarize and contextualize contemporary research on the development of ape gesture. We describe the papers presented in this special issue, grouping them into three themes: assessing theories, methodological innovation, and new empirical approaches. Each of the papers is a significant contribution to the literature on ape gesture, but the collection of work together represents a unique collaboration across labs, theories, and studied species. By considering the papers side-by-side, we hope that readers will see the authors as engaging in a true dialogue, one which will help the field of primate gesture research make significant advances in the years to come.
本文是对特刊《手势研究的演进：评估与统一大猩猩手势习得理论》的介绍。大猩猩的手势在科学文献中已有100多年的记录，但大猩猩习得手势的方式仍是一个备受争议的话题。通过这个历史框架，我们总结并将当代关于大猩猩手势发展的研究置于背景之中。我们描述了本特刊中发表的论文，将它们分为三个主题：评估理论、方法创新和新的实证方法。每篇论文都是对大猩猩手势文献的重要贡献，但这些研究成果共同构成了跨实验室、理论和研究物种的独特合作。通过将这些论文放在一起考虑，我们希望读者能看到作者们正在进行一场真正的对话，这场对话将有助于灵长类动物手势研究领域在未来几年取得重大进展。
