Abstract
It is a truism to say that primates develop, but it is also important to
acknowledge that development occurs across many domains, including
motor behavior, socioemotional behavior, communication, and cognition.
In this review, we focus on those aspects of development that impact social
cognition outcomes in infancy. Triadic engagements, such as those of joint
attention, cooperation, and intentional communication, develop in the first
year of life in chimpanzees and humans. Joint attention, for example, occurs
when infants coordinate their attention to a social partner while also attending
to an object or event. Hominoids are strongly influenced by experiences
during early development, especially experiences that are foundational
for these coordinated triadic engagements. Purported species differences
in triadic engagements are highlighted in current evolutionary theories
of primate social cognition, but conclusions about species differences are
unfounded when development is ignored. Developmental experiences must
be matched, controlled, or systematically varied in experimental designs that
make cross-species comparisons. Considerations of development, across
species and across rearing experiences, would contribute to more accurate
evolutionary theories of primate social cognition.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 183-200 |
Number of pages | 18 |
Journal | Annual Review of Anthropology |
Volume | 43 |
Early online date | 21 Jul 2014 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Oct 2014 |
Keywords
- great apes
- joint attention
- lived experiences
- chimpanzees