For humans, the ability to recall environmental features and past events underlies thinking, planning, and communication, but there are almost no data on recall capabilities in nonverbal animals. Data on the upper limits of recall capabilities in chimpanzees, and on the factors that limit recall, will lead to a more detailed understanding of the similarities and differences between human and nonhuman memory systems to improved animal models of recall memory. The long-term objective of this project is to characterize recall memory capabilities of chimpanzees that underlie communication about the environment and that contribute to the solution of foraging problems.
Specific Aim 1 is to assess chimpanzees' recall memory of multiple features of an event. Hypothesis 1: Chimpanzees are capable of episodic memory, as evidenced by their ability to recall and communicate what they saw, where they saw it, who was involved, and features of any objects employed.
Specific Aim 2 is to determine which of these different types of information a chimpanzee can recall and convey about a past event at a single reporting session. Hypothesis 2: Chimpanzees can convey multiple features (dimensions) of a past event in a fairly detailed report during a single trial.
Specific Aim 3 is to characterize chimpanzees' recall and representational memory of large-scale space. Hypothesis 3: Chimpanzees are capable of recalling and communicating the types and locations of objects in large-scale space, as indicated by: a) their ability to use an artificial language (lexigrams) to learn where distant goal objects are located, and b) their ability to use lexigrams to report the locations of goal objects that are in areas that are completely out of view.
Specific Aim 4 is to characterize chimpanzees' ability to recall, rank order, and sequentially visit multiple food resources over a wide spatial area. Hypothesis 4: Chimpanzees rank-order the expected value of multiple distant resources based on quality, quantity, proximity, visibility, and time of occurrence, and then visit the resources sequentially according to their ranking. The research will increase scientific knowledge of basic memory and planning capabilities in primates. Public health benefits of the research are expected to include improved technologies and methods for studying and enhancing memory, planning, communication, and spatial orientation skills in normal and developmentally delayed children. ? ? ?

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01HD056352-01
Application #
7302731
Study Section
Biobehavioral Regulation, Learning and Ethology Study Section (BRLE)
Program Officer
Freund, Lisa S
Project Start
2007-09-01
Project End
2011-06-30
Budget Start
2007-09-01
Budget End
2008-06-30
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2007
Total Cost
$184,238
Indirect Cost
Name
Georgia State University
Department
Miscellaneous
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
837322494
City
Atlanta
State
GA
Country
United States
Zip Code
30302
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Sayers, Ken; Lovejoy, C Owen (2014) Blood, bulbs, and bunodonts: on evolutionary ecology and the diets of Ardipithecus, Australopithecus, and early Homo. Q Rev Biol 89:319-57
Dolins, Francine L; Klimowicz, Christopher; Kelley, John et al. (2014) Using virtual reality to investigate comparative spatial cognitive abilities in chimpanzees and humans. Am J Primatol 76:496-513
Howard, Allison M; Fragaszy, Dorothy M (2014) Multi-step routes of capuchin monkeys in a laser pointer traveling salesman task. Am J Primatol 76:828-41
Roberts, Anna Ilona; Vick, Sarah-Jane; Roberts, Sam George Bradley et al. (2014) Chimpanzees modify intentional gestures to coordinate a search for hidden food. Nat Commun 5:3088
la Cour, L T; Stone, B W; Hopkins, W et al. (2014) What limits tool use in nonhuman primates? Insights from tufted capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) aligning three-dimensional objects to a surface. Anim Cogn 17:113-25
Sayers, Ken (2013) On folivory, competition, and intelligence: generalisms, overgeneralizations, and models of primate evolution. Primates 54:111-24
Beran, Michael J; Perdue, Bonnie M; Bramlett, Jessica L et al. (2012) Prospective Memory in a Language-Trained Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). Learn Motiv 43:192-199
Sayers, Ken; Menzel, Charles R (2012) Memory and foraging theory: Chimpanzee utilization of optimality heuristics in the rank-order recovery of hidden foods. Anim Behav 84:795-803
Fragaszy, Dorothy M; Stone, Brian W; Scott, Nicole M et al. (2011) How tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella spp) and common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) align objects to surfaces: insights into spatial reasoning and implications for tool use. Am J Primatol 73:1012-30

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