The symbolic monkey? Token-mediated economic choices in tufted capuchins
Tuesday, June 10, 2008 - 23:07
in Psychology & Sociology
From paintings and photographs to coins and credit cards, we are constantly surrounded by symbolic artefacts. The mental representation of symbols – objects that arbitrarily represent other objects – ultimately affords the development of language, and certainly played a decisive role in the evolution of our hominid ancestors. Can other animal species also comprehend and use symbols? Some evidence suggests that apes, our closest relatives, can indeed use symbols in various contexts. However, little is known about the symbolic competence of phylogenetically more distant species.