Apes remember major
events in movies, even after a single viewing. That’s the findings of primate
research in Japan (New Scientist, September 17, 2015).
Researchers at the
Kyoto University in Japan conducted experiments with two species of apes –
chimpanzees and bonobo primates – to test their memory and recall. Instead of
using food to test memory, they used films.
The researchers made
two short movies to show to the apes. Fumihiro Kano and his colleague, Satoshi
Hirata, starred in the films with another person dressed as an ape. They wanted
to have strong dramatic scenes to see if the apes remembered them.
In the first 30-second
movie the character ape bursts through a door on the right hand side (there is
also a door on the left hand side) and attacks the two researchers (characters) 18 seconds
after the start. After 24 seconds a human character choses one of two weapons next to each other and launched a revenge attack on the ape. In the
second 30-second movie there were slight variations – swapping the positions of
the two weapons.
The researchers showed
the two movies to 6 chimpanzees and 6 bonobo primates on two consecutive days.
They used laser eye-tracking technology to see what the apes were watching and
their preferences for looking at certain characters (the ape or the humans) or
props (weapons).
Anticipatory glances of the apes would tell the researchers whether
they recalled an event or not. And the apes did. Both movies were shown again
to all 12 apes. The apes preferentially looked at the doorway on the right hand
side of the screen around 3 seconds before the character ape burst through the
door, demonstrating that they remembered the scene.
When they watched the
second movie again, the apes could remember that the weapons were part of the
plot. The apes focused their anticipatory glances on the weapon used in the
first screening, demonstrating that they knew that the human would select it,
even though it had swapped position in movie number 2. All 12 apes remembered
the scenes in both movies.
The researchers
thought their attention to detail was impressive. They speculated that in the
wild their sense of anticipation and recall was needed to avoid danger, and to
increase social learning by remembering what other apes did. The study not only
showed that the apes remembered major events in the film (demonstrating
involuntary event memory), but that they also paid attention to the emotions
associated with the events.
The Japanese
researchers aim to continue their experiments, and want to explore if apes
understand other people’s or animals’ goals, intentions, and beliefs. As Fumihiro
Kano said, ‘Understanding a story plot is cognitively demanding, so a story is
useful to examine their cognition.’
Journal reference: Current Biology, DOI:
10.1016/j.cub.2015.08.004
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28189-apes-remember-major-events-in-movies-even-on-a-single-viewing/
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