Chimpanzees and other primates may possess intelligence rivaling our own and have an intuitive ability to interpret human thoughts.
The skill of comprehending what another person knows is a complex ability that human children typically start to develop around three years of age.
Researchers have dedicated nearly 50 years to verifying that various animals, including chimpanzees and ravens, possess the ability, however many experts have proceeded with caution in considering this notion.
Researchers have gathered conclusive evidence that bonobos are capable of deciphering human thoughts and utilization of this knowledge to communicate effectively in order to obtain a desired reward.
Collaborated with a researcher to obtain a portion of a grape, a piece of an apple, a peanut, or a few Cheerios.
The food was concealed under one of three cups by the second participant, and the researcher would then transfer it to the bonobo facing them.
However, sometimes the researcher didn't know where to find the edible reward because a large cardboard obstruction was placed in front of them.
The apes noticed that the researcher did not detect the cup that the food was placed under.
But it requires a significant degree of insight to grasp that this meant the researcher had no mental knowledge of the location of the food.
It was evident the apes were somehow intuitive to his thoughts because of the additional effort they made to assist him in locating the hidden food that he had not initially seen.
They were 29 per cent more likely to point the cup out when the other person didn't know it held the food and they found it about 1.5 seconds faster when they did.
Dr. Chris Krupenye, a senior author of the study and assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences at Johns Hopkins University, noted, “The ability to detect gaps in others' knowledge is at the heart of our most advanced social behaviors, essential to the ways we cooperate, communicate, and work together strategically.
Because this notion of 'theory of mind' supports several essential capabilities that define human uniqueness, such as teaching and language, many consider it to be absent from animals.
‘However, this research indicates the profound mental foundations that humans and other apes possess-and implies that these abilities have their origins millions of years back in our common ancestral lineage.’
It was previously believed that chimpanzees could read each other's minds by contact-calling more often about a nearby snake towards chimpanzees who hadn’t yet spotted it.
However, some experts were unconvinced, wondering whether the chimpanzees may have only made the calls as a result of being frightened, rather than to warn others.
The research demonstrated that apes are capable of holding two mental concepts simultaneously - their awareness of where a treat was concealed and another individual's lack of knowledge about it - and could effectively convey this to others.
The research was published in the Journal of the National Academy of Sciences.
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