Primate Origins of Human Cognition and Behavior

Biologists and anthropologists in Japan have played a crucial role in the development of primatology as a scientific discipline. Publication of Primate Origins of Human Cognition and Behavior under the editorship of Tetsuro Matsuzawa reaffirms the pervasive and creative role played by the intellectual descendants of Kinji Imanishi and Junichiro Itani in the fields of behavioral ecology, psychology, and cognitive science. Matsuzawa and his colleagues-humans and other primate partners- explore a broad range of issues including the phylogeny of perception and cognition; the origin of human speech; learning and memory; recognition of self, others, and species; society and social interaction; and culture. With data from field and laboratory studies of more than 90 primate species and of more than 50 years of long-term research, the intellectual breadth represented in this volume makes it a major contribution to comparative cognitive science and to current views on the origin of the mind and behavior of humans.

List of contents

to Comparative Cognitive Science.- Primate Foundations of Human Intelligence: A View of Tool Use in Nonhuman Primates and Fossil Hominids.- Phylogeny of Perception and Cognition.- What You See is Different from What I See: Species Differences in Visual Perception.- Investigating Visual Perception and Cognition in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Through Visual Search and Related Tasks: From Basic to Complex Processes.- Processing of the Global and Local Dimensions of Visual Hierarchical Stimuli by Humans (Homo sapiens), Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and Baboons (Papio papio).- How Do We Eat? Hypothesis of Foraging Strategy from the Viewpoint of Gustation in Primates.- Origin of Human Speech: Auditory Perception and Vocalization.- Lemur Vocal Communication and the Origin of Human Language.- Vocal Exchange of Coo Calls in Japanese Macaques.- Hearing and Auditory-Visual Intermodal Recognition in the Chimpanzee.- Early Vocal Development in a Chimpanzee Infant.- Learning and Memory.- Chimpanzee Numerical Competence: Cardinal and Ordinal Skills.- Reproductive Memory Processes in Chimpanzees: Homologous Approaches to Research on Human Working Memory.- Establishing Line Tracing on a Touch Monitor as a Basic Drawing Skill in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).- Object Recognition and Object Categorization in Animals.- Recognition of Self, Others, and Species.- Mirror Self-Recognition in Primates: An Ontogenetic and a Phylogenetic Approach.- The Level of Self-Knowledge in Nonhuman Primates: From the Perspective of Comparative Cognitive Science.- Self- and Other-Control in Squirrel Monkeys.- Evolutionary Foundation and Development of Imitation.- Species Recognition by Macaques Measured by Sensory Reinforcement.- Evolution of the Human Eye as a Device for Communication.- Society and Social Interaction.- A Review of 50 Years of Research on the Japanese Monkeys of Koshima: Status and Dominance.- Mother-Offspring Relationship in Macaques.- The Myth of Despotism and Nepotism: Dominance and Kinship in Matrilineal Societies of Macaques.- Decision Making in Social Interactions by Monkeys.- Culture.- "Sweet-Potato Washing" Revisited.- Tube Test in Free-Ranging Japanese Macaques: Use of Sticks and Stones to Obtain Fruit from a Transparent Pipe.- Tool Use by Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) of the Arnhem Zoo Community.- Ecology of Tool Use in Wild Chimpanzees: Toward Reconstruction of Early Hominid Evolution.- Emergence of Culture in Wild Chimpanzees: Education by Master-Apprenticeship.

About the author

Prof. Tetsuro Matsuzawa is world renowned for blending captive and field approaches to advance our understanding and appreciation of chimpanzee intelligence. He leads the Ai-project and is the director of Primate Research Institute of the University of Kyoto, Japan. He is also the director of the Bossou/Nimba field research station. He has more than 30 years of experience with working with chimpanzees in captivity, and more than 20 with chimpanzees in their natural habitat. He has received several prestigious awards for his achievements so far including the Prince Chichibu Memorial Science Award in 1991, the Jane Goodall Award in 2001 and the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2004. He is also a member of the executive committee of the IUCN (The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) Primate Specialist Group on Great Ape Conservation.

Summary

Biologists and anthropologists in Japan have played a crucial role in the development of primatology as a scientific discipline. Publication of Primate Origins of Human Cognition and Behavior under the editorship of Tetsuro Matsuzawa reaffirms the pervasive and creative role played by the intellectual descendants of Kinji Imanishi and Junichiro Itani in the fields of behavioral ecology, psychology, and cognitive science. Matsuzawa and his colleagues-humans and other primate partners- explore a broad range of issues including the phylogeny of perception and cognition; the origin of human speech; learning and memory; recognition of self, others, and species; society and social interaction; and culture. With data from field and laboratory studies of more than 90 primate species and of more than 50 years of long-term research, the intellectual breadth represented in this volume makes it a major contribution to comparative cognitive science and to current views on the origin of the mind and behavior of humans.

Additional text

From the reviews:

"The volume’s emphasis on studies of the common chimpanzee … reflects the long-standing interests of its editor, the not-so-common cognitive psychologist Tetsuro Matsuzawa. … Without question, this volume belongs on the desk of any student or researcher with a serious interest in primate behavior or comparative cognition. The editor has succeeded admirably in bringing together a coherent collection of important work." (Sarah Boysen, Science, Vol. 295, February, 2002)

Report

From the reviews:

"The volume's emphasis on studies of the common chimpanzee ... reflects the long-standing interests of its editor, the not-so-common cognitive psychologist Tetsuro Matsuzawa. ... Without question, this volume belongs on the desk of any student or researcher with a serious interest in primate behavior or comparative cognition. The editor has succeeded admirably in bringing together a coherent collection of important work." (Sarah Boysen, Science, Vol. 295, February, 2002)

Product details

• Assisted by: Tetsur Matsuzawa (Editor), Tetsuro Matsuzawa (Editor)
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.05.2011
• EAN: 9784431094227
• ISBN: 978-4-431-09422-7
• No. of pages: 587
• Dimensions: 172 mm x 236 mm x 29 mm
• Weight: 1014 g
• Illustrations: XXI, 587 p.
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Biology > General, dictionaries; B, Ecology, Ecological science, the Biosphere, Biomedical and Life Sciences, Zoology