What Young Chimpanzees Know about Seeing (Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development)

ISBN 10: 0226676757 / ISBN 13: 9780226676753

Published by University Of Chicago Press, 1996

Very Good condition. A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner's name, short gifter's inscription or light stamp. Seller Inventory # M10A-02506

Synopsis:

Does a young chimpanzee's gaze subjectively link it to the outside world? Is seeing "about" something to this species? This volume reports the results of 15 studies conducted with chimpanzees and pre-school children. The findings provide little evidence that young chimpanzees understand seeing as a mental event. Even though young chimps spontaneously attend to and follow the visual gaze of others, they simultaneously appear oblivious to the attentional significance of that gaze. This interpretation is consistent with three different possibilities: chimpanzees may experience a delay in psychological development; alternatively, they may possess a different theory of attention, connected subjectively through other behavioural indicators; or the subjective understanding of visual perception may only be present in humans.

From the Back Cover: Previous experimental research has suggested that chimpanzees may understand some of the epitemological aspects of visual perception, such as how the perceptual act of seeing can have internal mental consequences for an individual′s state of knowledge. Other research suggests that chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates may understand visual perception at a simpler level; that is, they may at least understand seeing as a mental event that subjectively anchors organisms to the external world. However, these results are ambiguous and are open to several interpretations. In this Monograph, we report the results of 15 studies that were conducted with chimpanzees and preschool children to explore their knowledge about visual perception.

Bibliographic Details

Title: What Young Chimpanzees Know about Seeing (...
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Publication Date: 1996
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: Very Good