Humans able to understand other apes better than thought, research suggests
We may not be able to strike up a conversation, debate politics or chat about the meaning of life with other great apes, but our ability to understand one another might be greater than once thought.
Researchers have discovered adult humans can discern the meaning of gestures produced by bonobos and chimpanzees, despite not necessarily using such gestures themselves.
“It seems that this is an ability that’s retained in our species as well [as other apes],” said Dr Kirsty Graham, first author of the research from the University of St Andrews, in Scotland.
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.
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. Indeed, modern ape species today are known to use gestures to communicate their goals. Now the researchers have revealed that adult humans show a surprising level of understanding of such gestures.
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.
While some of the gestures had one meaning, others had several – with the correct meaning dependent upon the context of the gesture.
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.