Comp 9 Flashcards
Why do researchers say that social cognition differs significantly between humans and apes
Reports of social learning, gaze following, pointing production and comprehension. Humans are much better than apes on all of these tasks. As well as this, humans are much better with cumulative culture (Dean et al., 2012). This stuy compared human nursery kids (3-4 years old), juvenile chimpanzees and adolescents & adult capuchins.
However we need to be cautious because we are comparing two groups, meaning we can’t answer questions about species differences, just group differences. As we would need to demonstrate that the group is representative of the species and the characteristic is universal across al representatives.
Additionally, we can not conclude species differences based on designs with confounding variables. For example, species and rearing studies may have an age or rearing confound.
Species differences can not be identified in these types of experiments. They must use a different comparative design - developmental studies.
What is social cognition in infancy in relation to joint attention?
Coordinated joint engagement (engagement with someone, about something). Joint attention is often operationalised as attention to a social partner coordinated with attention to an object with coordination indicated by behavioural markers such as gaze alternation and gaze following.
Discuss joint attention and language acquisition
Joint attention is being engaged with someone about something. There is a triadic engagement required for referential learning (language).
Joint acquisition might foster language acquisition in terms of audio-visual associations, so when a mother points to a dog and calls it a dog to their infant.
Joint attention is required in social referencing, intentional communication and imitation.
Do chimps have joint attention abilities?
Apes have demonstrated the ability to sign language - chimpanzees, bonobos gorillas and orangutans.
Chimpanzees use symbol systems, and engage in social referencing.
Chimps seek emotional information from their favourite caregivers and use messages to regulate their behaviour. They look to caregiver when given a happy message, and look longer at objects.
Additionally, chimpanzees communicate intentionally (although, intentionality is hard to infer with non humans), they concluded this because chimps point to things sometimes.
Chimps have been found to use JA to imitate, and can learn through imitation.
Chimps have a myriad of skills that, in humans, depend on joint attention, but there are little tests done on this JA.
What are the problems with testing whether or not joint attention is present in chimps and humans
We need to take into account the rearing of the individuals.
Further, apes have abilities that in humans depend on joint attetion, therefore joint attetion appears to be within the capability of apes - but there is actually few direct tests of JA development in apes.
How does joint attention develop?
at 3-4 months, there is engagement with social partner including mutual gaze, positive emotional engagement. This is from the infant to the social partner.
This leads to at 5-7 months a manipulation of objects including positive engagement and play with toys. This is from the infant to the object.
Leading to at 9-12 months a coordinated joint engagement, including coordination of object attention with social attention. This is from the infant to both social partner and object, as well as from social partner to object. (the infant can see this link).
What is Baron-Cohen’s (1994) model of mindreading
Theory of mind mechanism is developed by humans at 2-4 years old, this is developed from a shared attention mechanism in 9-14 months old humans. This is developed from both the intentionality detector and the eye direction detector in 0-9month old humans, but this has also been found in evolution primates.
Discuss the study involved with experimental assessment of JA using the bayley scales of infant development
Nursery chimpanzees were tested monthly, and compared with human infants test scores (Bayley, 1996). They found a link between age and the amount of postnatal experience.
The BSID measures cognitive development, 3months to 3 years of age. In the first year, 31 items required joint attention to pass, for example following examiners directions or demonstrations of actions on objects, and imitating examiners actions with objects.
Discuss the findings found on joint attention in chimps and humans
Chimpanzee and human infants had significant JA success, joint attention is not unique to humans. However there are different trajectories in JA, the human infants excel in JA (by 1-year of age). RC (responsive care) chimpanzees were significantly higher JA than ST (standard care) chimpanzees.
Comparitiveness levels of human infants within CI of RC chimpanzees, found cooperation is not human-unique.
Differences in developmental trajectories show that human infants do not excel in cooperation.
RC chimpanzees show higher levels of cooperation than ST chimpanzees and enahnced experiences improve cooperation.
Discuss the problems with the study on joint attention in chimps and humans
Joint attention assessed in laboratory situation.
Joint attention assessed with objects and humans examiner.
Only chimpanzees raised in biomedical nurseries were used.
Because social cognition has a developmental history based in emotion and enagagement experiences, there may be differences in JA that we didn’t see because we did not study individuals in an institutional setting.
Discuss neglectful and institutionalised rearing and the effect this has.
In a CT scan, it can be shown that the size of the brain is much smaller in 3 year old children when they experience extreme neglect. This shows the importance of taking into consideration background information of participants in studies, especially on anything cognition relation
Insitutionalised rearing changes brain functioning, orphans show reduced glucose activity in prefrontal and temporal regions. And it has been found that the longer children stay in poor quality orphanages, the worse the effect on cognition.
It is also thought that institutionalisation may increase ASD - incidence of autism-like behaviours in sample of 111 Romanian orphans = 6%, compared to autism in wider population = .02-.2%
It may also cause disorganised attachments - a breakdown of an organised strategy - mixed motivations associationed with history of neglect or abuse. And an index of poor emotional engagement with social partners. This has been found in chimpanzees too! Engagement with social partners is highly disrupted in chimpanzees in laboratory ST nurseries, although disorganised attachment is significantly reduce in RC. In sancturies, apes spent 0-3 years in the wild with their mothers, before being put into quarantine, then into peer groups before being introduced to multi-age groups of un-related individuals.
Discuss the study about joint attention outside of the laboratory
They took naturalistic observations of 1-year olds in their everyday settings. Huamns (all mothers raised) had 3 groups of different ethnicities.
UK 12 month olds respond to other-initiated bids, and has lots of positive affects.
12 month old Central african republic children respond to JE of older child and imitates dance moves.
12 month old infant from Nso community, Cameroon mother and boy initiate JE, with touch and vision JE is about an activity - lots of postitive effect.
Also chimps were tested in 4 groups: wild, and captive group living. Wilds showed infants initiating play, with positive emotion in facial expressions, whereas in the captive group there was sharing attention with mother about social play, with infant-initiated engagement at Chester Zoo, but at Primate research institute, there was no emotional display where infants were not interested in play.
Also, there were cross-fostered chimps, raised by Sally Boysen at Ohio, who found chimps were respondent to adult initiations about blowing out candles and lots of positive affect.
Discuss joint attention and coordinated joint engagement
Coordinated joint engagement, engagement with someone, about something.
Coordinated joint engagement includes: attention to a social partner coordinated with attention to a social event or activity or o an object with coordination indiciated by behaviour marker, such as gaze alternation, for example giving and taking, social interactions and play.
Chimp infants and human infants were engaged with someone about some thing 65% of the time, no differences due to ecology or species in presence of JE
What were the findings of joint engagement on object focus?
Significant differences amongst the 3 human groups, with UK having significantly larger JE with objects.
Significant differences among the chimp groups, with home-raised having larger JE with objects - much higher!
Thus, objects are significantly more often the topic in urban settings. JE more often about social events in rural settings.
Humans are not more motivated to engage in JE than chimpanzees.
Why can we say joint engagement may vary with emotion from others
The human and chimp groups differed in amount of positive emotional tone that surrounds joint engagement. UK had significantly higher % of JE with positive affect (except home-raised chimps).
The groups differed in amount of JE without emotional tone. Among humans, UK significantly lower % of JE without affect, no sig differences amongst the chimp groups.