![]() What was more, the results held whether or not the gesture had just one, or multiple, meanings. The findings showed that participants did better than chance at correctly interpreting the meanings of chimpanzee and bonobo gestures, whether or not contextual information was given, with an average success rate of 57% if information was given and 52% if not. Participants were randomly allocated either to watch the gestures with text on what the apes were up to before the gesture – such eating or resting – or without this information, and were asked to select the correct meaning from four possible answers. ![]() While some of the gestures had one meaning, others had several – with the correct meaning dependent upon the context of the gesture. The results emerged when the pair analysed data from 5,656 participants who took part in an online game in which they were shown 20 videos of chimpanzees and bonobos making 10 of their most common gestures, such as “groom me”, “give me that food” and “let’s have sex”, alongside an illustration of the gesture. Now the researchers have revealed that adult humans show a surprising level of understanding of such gestures. ![]() Indeed, modern ape species today are known to use gestures to communicate their goals. Given it is implausible that intentional communication cropped up in humans through a single recent genetic leap, it is probable a simpler form was used by our evolutionary ancestors. Writing in the journal PLoS Biology, Graham and her colleague, Dr Catherine Hobaiter, said that intentional communication, in which an individual conveys meaning to another, is a feature of human languages but is rarely seen in other species. “It seems that this is an ability that’s retained in our species as well ,” said Dr Kirsty Graham, first author of the research from the University of St Andrews, in Scotland.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |