Different in degree or kind: toddlers best apes (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, May 18, 2016, 21:25 (2899 days ago) @ David Turell

Young toddlers use ape-like tools with quick mental response:-http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/toddlers-instinctually-know-how-to-use-a-wild-ape-s-tools/?WT.mc_id=SA_MB_20160518-"Deep in the lush Mahale Mountains of Tanzania, a chimpanzee strips a twig of its leaves and then plunges it into the ground. When she yanks it out, the twig is crawling with tasty termites. The chimp slurps the insects off the stick before fishing for more six-legged snacks.-"Halfway around the world, a three-year-old British child sits before a cardboard box. A small hole reveals three sponges inside. If he can get the sponges out, he will earn a sticker. Without being instructed, the child decides to pick up a nearby Velcro-covered wood rod. He reasons that the sponges might stick to the Velcro, and he is right. In short order, he wins his prize.-" The research sought to compare the cognitive abilities of humans with those of our great ape relatives by relying on tool-related behaviors recorded in wild chimps and orangutans as a model for tests of young children. In a sample of 50 toddlers between two and three and a half years old, the researchers observed a similar frequency of tool-related behaviors as seen among wild chimps and orangutans. Common ape behaviors, such as fishing for termites, were observed often in the children engaged in analogous scenarios. And behaviors that were more rare in wild ape communities, such as using a rock to break open a nut, were also more infrequently used by the toddlers. In all, the children solved 11 of 12 tests. Psychologist Eva Reindl, who led the study, says the fact that the toddlers displayed the appropriate behaviors is evidence of the children's instinctual ability to use these simple tools.-"The results, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, undermine the prevailing notion that children need to learn to use tools in all cases—an idea that goes back to Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky, who wrote in 1930 that spontaneous tool use by human children was “practically zero.'” -Comment: Is anyone surprised? I'm not.