Baboons trained on computers show they are capable of abstract

ANIMALS OTHER than humans and apes are able to reason, scientists have discovered.

Experiments show that baboons are capable of abstract reasoning even though their understanding of concepts is less distinct than that of a human.

Two baboons, taught to use a computer by French and American researchers, could recognise that detailed sets of images were either the same or different. The researchers found that while the baboons' ability to reason was not "an intellectual forte" it was within their capabilities - the first time an animal other than a human or an ape has proved able to reason.

The scientists said the results raised the possibility that other species might also be more human in their thinking.

Writing in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, the scientists said: "Analogical thinking and its possible precursors may well be found in non-human animals, if only we assiduously look for them."

Scientists have already shown that chimpanzees, a type of ape, can think in an abstract way, but the research has implications for theories of the evolution of man's intelligence because there is a much wider gap between humans and baboons. Baboons belong to a different primate family that split from the group that formed humans and apes 30 million years ago.

The team of scientists, led by Dr Joel Fagot, from the Centre of Research in Cognitive Neuroscience in Marseilles, and Dr Edward Wasserman, from the University of Iowa, trained a male and female baboon to use a computer and joystick to select different grids of pictures. The baboons were made familiar with one of two sets of 16 pictures laid out in four rows. One set contained a collection of different pictures, such as the sun, a light bulb, a train and a house. The second set had one picture repeated 16 times.

The baboons were then given a choice of sets, each containing a grid of different pictures or one picture. They were rewarded when they chose sets that had the same pattern as the original. The baboons matched the grids correctly more often than would have been predicted by chance.

The scientists said it took thousands of trials before the animals learnt the "relation between relations" but eventually showed they could recognise "sameness" even when the clues were subtle and abstract.

When the number of "different" items was reduced so they were more similar to the "same" grids, the baboons were slower and more accurate when compared with two humans.

The researchers said the apparent different cut-off points between humans and baboons in recognising "same" and "different" could be due to language. For humans "same" described things that were identical, but in baboons the concept may be more indistinct.

Leading article, Review, page 3

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