Mental time travel in apes

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project Area: The Science of Mental Time: investigation into the past, present, and future
• Project/Area Number: 25119008
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Research in a proposed research area)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Review Section: Complex systems
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Hirata Satoshi 京都大学, 野生動物研究センター, 教授 (80396225)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): MORIMURA Naruki 京都大学, 野生動物研究センター, 特定准教授 (90396226) ; ADACHI Ikuma 京都大学, 霊長類研究所, 准教授 (80543214) ; YAMAMOTO Shinya 京都大学, 高等研究院, 准教授 (40585767) ; KANO Fumihiro 京都大学, 野生動物研究センター, 特定助教 (70739565) ; YAMANASHI Yumi 京都市動物園, 生き物学び研究センター, 主席研究員 (80726620)
• Research Collaborator: SATO Yutaro
• Project Period (FY): 2013-06-28 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 心的時間旅行 / エピソード様記憶 / 自己認識 / 類人猿 / 進化的基盤

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A series of studies to investigate the evolutionary origins of human ability for mental time was conducted in great apes. In an experiment, the same movie was shown to the apes a total of two times with 24 hours gap and their eye gaze was measured by an eye-tracker. The result showed that the apes remembered the event depicted in the movie and made anticipatory looks to the critical event, showing their ability to remember a single event. In another study, the chimpanzees could recognize 1-4 sec delayed image of themselves, illustrating that their self-recognition was not restricted to here and now but extended into past and present time axes.

Free Research Field

比較認知科学