Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) navigate to find hidden fruit in a virtual environment.

ABSTRACT: Almost all animals navigate their environment to find food, shelter, and mates. Spatial cognition of nonhuman primates in large-scale environments is notoriously difficult to study. Field research is ecologically valid, but controlling confounding variables can be difficult. Captive research enables experimental control, but space restrictions can limit generalizability. Virtual reality technology combines the best of both worlds by creating large-scale, controllable environments. We presented six chimpanzees with a seminaturalistic virtual environment, using a custom touch screen application. The chimpanzees exhibited signature behaviors reminiscent of real-life navigation: They learned to approach a landmark associated with the presence of fruit, improving efficiency over time; they loca

SUBMITTER: Allritz M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9232100 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature