Evidence for compositionality in baboons (Papio papio) through the test case of negation
Abstract Can non-human animals combine abstract representations much like humans do with language? In particular, can they entertain a compositional representation such as ‘not blue’? Across two experiments, we demonstrate that baboons (Papio papio) show a capacity for compositionality. Experiment 1...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-21143-1 |
| _version_ | 1798018346987290624 |
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| author | Isabelle Dautriche Brian Buccola Melissa Berthet Joel Fagot Emmanuel Chemla |
| author_facet | Isabelle Dautriche Brian Buccola Melissa Berthet Joel Fagot Emmanuel Chemla |
| author_sort | Isabelle Dautriche |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Can non-human animals combine abstract representations much like humans do with language? In particular, can they entertain a compositional representation such as ‘not blue’? Across two experiments, we demonstrate that baboons (Papio papio) show a capacity for compositionality. Experiment 1 showed that baboons can entertain negative, compositional, representations: they can learn to associate a cue with iconically related referents (e.g., a blue patch referring to all blue objects), but also to the complement set associated with it (e.g., a blue patch referring to all non-blue objects). Strikingly, Experiment 2 showed that baboons not only learn to associate a cue with iconically related referents, but can learn to associate complex cues (composed of the same cue and an additional visual element) with the complement object set. Thus, they can learn an operation, instantiated by this additional visual element, that can be compositionally combined with previously learned cues. These results significantly reduce any claim that would make the manipulation and combination of abstract representations a solely human privilege. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T16:22:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b8d5bc1878384c5e879d0d4ed69943ab |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T16:22:30Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-b8d5bc1878384c5e879d0d4ed69943ab2022-12-22T04:14:17ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222022-11-0112111210.1038/s41598-022-21143-1Evidence for compositionality in baboons (Papio papio) through the test case of negationIsabelle Dautriche0Brian Buccola1Melissa Berthet2Joel Fagot3Emmanuel Chemla4Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Aix-Marseille University, CNRSDepartment of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures, Michigan State UniversityInstitut Jean Nicod, Département d’Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL University, EHESS, CNRSLaboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Aix-Marseille University, CNRSLaboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, Département d’Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL University, EHESS, CNRSAbstract Can non-human animals combine abstract representations much like humans do with language? In particular, can they entertain a compositional representation such as ‘not blue’? Across two experiments, we demonstrate that baboons (Papio papio) show a capacity for compositionality. Experiment 1 showed that baboons can entertain negative, compositional, representations: they can learn to associate a cue with iconically related referents (e.g., a blue patch referring to all blue objects), but also to the complement set associated with it (e.g., a blue patch referring to all non-blue objects). Strikingly, Experiment 2 showed that baboons not only learn to associate a cue with iconically related referents, but can learn to associate complex cues (composed of the same cue and an additional visual element) with the complement object set. Thus, they can learn an operation, instantiated by this additional visual element, that can be compositionally combined with previously learned cues. These results significantly reduce any claim that would make the manipulation and combination of abstract representations a solely human privilege.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-21143-1 |
| spellingShingle | Isabelle Dautriche Brian Buccola Melissa Berthet Joel Fagot Emmanuel Chemla Evidence for compositionality in baboons (Papio papio) through the test case of negation Scientific Reports |
| title | Evidence for compositionality in baboons (Papio papio) through the test case of negation |
| title_full | Evidence for compositionality in baboons (Papio papio) through the test case of negation |
| title_fullStr | Evidence for compositionality in baboons (Papio papio) through the test case of negation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evidence for compositionality in baboons (Papio papio) through the test case of negation |
| title_short | Evidence for compositionality in baboons (Papio papio) through the test case of negation |
| title_sort | evidence for compositionality in baboons papio papio through the test case of negation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-21143-1 |
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