90 BBC WILDLIFE December 2021
How do apes
reveal theory
of mind?
LEOMA WILLIAMS
ANSWERS
Theory of mind is the ability to
grasp that others have beliefs
and desires that are different
to our own. It helps us to
understand, communicate
with, and even deceive others.
An experiment in 2016,
in which two scientists
acted out a scenario in front
of an audience of chimps,
bonobos and orangutans,
demonstrated some aspects of
the concept in apes. Scientist
A dressed as a gorilla and
hid from his colleague, once
when he was watching, and
again when he wasn’t. Whenscientist B searched for the
‘gorilla’, would the watching
apes look to the first hiding
place (indicating where they
expected the scientist to look),
or where they knew the gorilla
actually was?
Looking at where scientist
B last saw the gorilla would
indicate an understanding of
what he might be thinking;
looking at where the gorilla
actually was would mean they
were unable to determine that
he could hold a different (and
false) belief.
As it happened, the former
was true, indicating that we
share more with our cousins
than previously thought.Email your questions to
[email protected]