Whiten A
Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology, University of St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland.
J Comp Psychol. 1998 Sep;112(3):270-81. doi: 10.1037/0735-7036.112.3.270.
Imitation was studied experimentally by allowing chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) to observe alternative patterns of actions for opening a specially designed "artificial fruit." Like problematic foods primates deal with naturally, with the test fruit several defenses had to be removed to gain access to an edible core, but the sequential order and method of defense removal could be systematically varied. Each subject repeatedly observed 1 of 2 alternative techniques for removing each defense and 1 of 2 alternative sequential patterns of defense removal. Imitation of sequential organization emerged after repeated cycles of demonstration and attempts at opening the fruit. Imitation in chimpanzees may thus have some power to produce cultural convergence, counter to the supposition that individual learning processes corrupt copied actions. Imitation of sequential organization was accompanied by imitation of some aspects of the techniques that made up the sequence.
通过让黑猩猩（Pan troglodytes）观察打开一个特别设计的“人造水果”的不同行动模式，对模仿进行了实验研究。就像灵长类动物自然应对的疑难食物一样，对于测试水果，必须去除几种防御措施才能获取可食用的果核，但去除防御措施的顺序和方法可以系统地变化。每个受试者反复观察去除每种防御措施的两种替代技术之一以及两种替代的防御措施去除顺序模式之一。在反复的示范和尝试打开水果的循环之后，出现了对顺序组织的模仿。因此，黑猩猩的模仿可能具有某种产生文化趋同的能力，这与个体学习过程会破坏被模仿行为的假设相反。对顺序组织的模仿伴随着对构成该顺序的技术的某些方面的模仿。
