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Cited by 341Primate Behavior and EcologyChild and Animal Learning DevelopmentMemory Processes and Influences

Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and orangutan (Pongo abelii) forethought: self-control and pre-experience in the face of future tool use

Osvath, Mathias, Osvath, Helena·2008·Animal Cognition
DOI 10.1007/s10071-008-0157-0
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Abstract

Planning for future needs has traditionally been considered to be restricted to human cognition. Although recent studies on great ape and corvid cognition challenge this belief, the phylogenesis of human planning remains largely unknown. The complex skill for future planning has not yet been satisfactorily established in any other extant primate species than our own. In humans, planning for future needs rely heavily on two overarching capacities, both of which lie at the heart of our cognition: self-control, often defined as the suppression of immediate drives in favor of delayed rewards, and mental time travel, which could be described as a detached mental experience of a past or future event. Future planning is linked to additional high complexity cognition such as metacognition and a consciousness usually not attributed to animals. In a series of four experiments based on tool use, we demonstrate that chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and orangutans (Pongo abelii) override immediate drives in favor of future needs, and they do not merely rely on associative learning or semantic prospection when confronted with a planning task. These results suggest that great apes engage in planning for the future by out competing current drives and mentally pre-experiencing an upcoming event. This suggests that the advanced mental capacities utilized in human future planning are shared by phylogenetically more ancient species than previously believed.

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  • In similar experiments, apes appear to plan for future possibilities by choosing and retaining appropriate tools for future use.

    “In similar experiments, apes also appear to plan for future possibilities by choosing and retaining appropriate tools for future use [167,168].”

    From Is episodic-like memory <i>like</i> episodic memory? (2024) · cites this paper as [168]

  • Recent experimental studies have shown evidence for planning in chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans.

    “recent experimental studies have shown evidence for planning in chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans”

    From Keeping track of time: evidence for episodic-like memory in great apes (2010) · cites this paper as Osvath and Osvath 2008

  • Episodic memory and future planning depend on common processes.

    “It has also been argued that episodic memory and future planning depend on common processes”

    From Keeping track of time: evidence for episodic-like memory in great apes (2010) · cites this paper as Osvath and Osvath 2008

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Authors
Osvath, M., & Osvath, H.
Affiliations
Lund University (SE)
Corresponding author
Osvath, Mathias
ORCID
Osvath, Mathias
Venue
Animal Cognition
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2008-06-14
Volume
11
Issue
4
Pages
661-674
ISSN
  • 1435-9448 (ISSN-L)
  • 1435-9456
DOI
10.1007/s10071-008-0157-0
OpenAlex
W2159887989
Cited by
341
References
71
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 26 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 24
FWCI
27.11
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations
  • Animal Cognition (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Lund University Publications (Lund University) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
Keywords
future planning, self-control, mental time travel, chimpanzees, orangutans, tool use, delayed rewards, great apes, metacognition
MeSH terms
Animals, Pan troglodytes, Choice Behavior, Concept Formation, Discrimination Learning, Female, Forecasting, Goals, Male, Pongo pygmaeus, Probability Learning, Problem Solving, Intention, Tool Use Behavior

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