Cognition and emotion of bonobos and chimpanzees: Novel approach using behavioral and physiological measures

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26885040
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Experimental psychology
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Kano Fumihiro 京都大学, 野生動物研究センター, 助教 (70739565)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-08-29 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 類人猿 / アイ・トラッキング / サーモ・イメージング / エピソード記憶 / 予測的注視 / 感情生理反応 / アイ・コンタクト

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Using cutting edge technologies, I have examined cognition and emotion of bonobos and chimpanzees. Using eye-tracking, I found that great apes can make anticipatory looks to impending events that they observed only once, one-day ago. This suggests that apes have a human-like episodic memory (at least part of it). I also found that bonobos look at the other individuals' eyes for a longer duration than do chimpanzees, presumably reflecting their differences in socio-emotional reactivities. I also established a thermo-imaging method that can track nasal temperature changes as significant indicators of their emotional reactions. Overall, I enhanced the understandings about mental functions of great apes using novel methods, and also further developed methods that should be much useful for the future studies.

Free Research Field

比較認知科学