| RRC ID |
71489
|
| 著者 |
Liu N, Iijima A, Iwata Y, Ohashi K, Fujisawa N, Sasaoka T, Hasegawa I.
|
| タイトル |
Mental construction of object symbols from meaningless elements by Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata).
|
| ジャーナル |
Sci Rep
|
| Abstract |
When writing an object's name, humans mentally construct its spelling. This capacity critically depends on use of the dual-structured linguistic system, in which meaningful words are represented by combinations of meaningless letters. Here we search for the evolutionary origin of this capacity in primates by designing dual-structured bigram symbol systems where different combinations of meaningless elements represent different objects. Initially, we trained Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) in an object-bigram symbolization task and in a visually-guided bigram construction task. Subsequently, we conducted a probe test using a symbolic bigram construction task. From the initial trial of the probe test, the Japanese macaques could sequentially choose the two elements of a bigram that was not actually seen but signified by a visually presented object. Moreover, the animals' spontaneous choice order bias, developed through the visually-guided bigram construction learning, was immediately generalized to the symbolic bigram construction test. Learning of dual-structured symbols by the macaques possibly indicates pre-linguistic adaptations for the ability of mentally constructing symbols in the common ancestors of humans and Old World monkeys.
|
| 巻・号 |
12(1)
|
| ページ |
3566
|
| 公開日 |
2022-3-4
|
| DOI |
10.1038/s41598-022-07563-z
|
| PII |
10.1038/s41598-022-07563-z
|
| PMID |
35246592
|
| PMC |
PMC8897398
|
| MeSH |
Animals
Learning
Macaca*
Macaca fuscata*
|
| IF |
3.998
|
| リソース情報 |
| ニホンザル |
|
