Science & Nature

Monkeys predicting the future

By team ⋅ March 27, 2008 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

The New Scientist, 2nd February

Although it throws a monkey wrench into long-held scientific ideas, it has been found that monkeys can predict the future actions of others. Vittorio Gallese of the University of Parma, Italy has discovered that macaques are in fact able to understand others as beings with their own intentions and perspectives.

Six monkeys were tested using a goal-related task: a woman reached over a high obstacle to get a toy on the other side. After the monkeys were used to this action, the obstacle was removed, allowing the woman to pick up the toy easily.
Repeating this test the team discovered that when the obstacle was gone, the monkeys demonstrated minimal interest: each animal looked at her face for an average of only 7 milliseconds. However, when she used a ‘reach-over’ action, behaving as if the obstacle was still in place, the monkeys increased their interest and gazed for an average of 18 milliseconds.

According to Gallese, the results suggest that monkeys are able to recognise intention in goal-related actions, and use this to predict how others will behave. When the woman acted in an unexpected manner and pretended to reach over an obstacle, the monkeys looked at her face longer to decipher her behaviour. This theory contradicts the premise of much scientific knowledge about the function of monkeys’ brains. Indeed, similar reactions from infants responding to the same test are said to show that the child understands that the person is a rational being with its own agency.
‘Now’, says Gallese, ‘we have to allow that monkeys can understand intention too’.