Innovative problem solving in great apes: the role of visual feedback in the floating peanut task.

ABSTRACT: Nonhuman great apes show remarkable behavioural flexibility. Some individuals are even able to use water as a tool: They spit water into a vertical tube to make a peanut float upwards until it comes into reach (floating peanut task; FPT). In the current study, we used the FPT to investigate how visual feedback, an end-state demonstration and a social demonstration affect task performance in nonhuman great apes in three experiments. Our results indicate that apes who had acquired the solution with a clear tube maintained it with an opaque one. However, apes starting with an opaque tube failed to solve the task. Additionally, facing the peanut floating on a water-filled tube (i.e., an end-state demonstration) promoted success independent on the availability of visual feedback. Moreover, expe

SUBMITTER: Ebel SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6687703 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature