The DOI matches its Crossref record; 173 of the 174 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Do Some Taxa Have Better Domain-General Cognition than others? A Meta-Analysis of Nonhuman Primate Studies
Open accessAbstract
Although much recent attention has focused on identifying domain-specific taxonomic differences in cognition, little effort has been directed towards investigating whether domain-general differences also exist. We therefore conducted a meta-analysis of published nonhuman primate cognition studies, testing the prediction that some taxa outperform others across a range of testing situations. First, within each of nine experimental paradigms with interspecific variation, we grouped studies by their procedures and the characteristics of their study subjects. Then, using Bayesian latent variable methods, we tested whether taxonomic differences consistently held within or across paradigms. No genus performed especially well within particular paradigms, but genera differed significantly in overall performance. In addition, there was evidence of variation at higher taxonomic levels; most notably, great apes significantly outperformed other lineages. These results cannot be readily explained by perceptual biases or any other contextual confound and instead suggest that primate taxa differ in some kind of domain-general ability.
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Metadata
- Authors
- Deaner, R. O., van Schaik, C. P., & Johnson, V.
- Affiliations
- Duke Medical Center (US)
- University of Zurich (CH)
- The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Deaner, Robert O.
- Venue
- Evolutionary Psychology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2006-01-01
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 1474-7049 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2122788746
- Cited by
- 212
- References
- 174
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 0.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Evolutionary Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- domain-general cognition, non-human primates, interspecific variation, primate cognition, great apes, Bayesian latent variable models, perceptual bias
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