(Press-News.org) If you have seen a child just eat an entire ice-cream, and she begs you to buy her one, what will your reaction be?
Here we ask if monkeys understand the physical needs of others. In order to provide help or share food, it would be useful for them to know what others want or need. Such understanding is probably simpler than an understanding of the other's state of knowledge, known as Theory-of-Mind (ToM). Sensitivity to wants and needs appears earlier than ToM in the development of children. While there is some evidence for ToM in the great apes, such as chimpanzees, monkeys are rarely tested on intersubjectivity (empathy with and understanding of others) since the common assumption is that they are behavior-readers rather than mind-readers, i.e. that they merely react to another's behavior. They may not make any inferences about the internal states of others.
The present study, published in Behaviour, questions this assumption, however, since it shows that brown capuchin monkeys (a large-brained South-American primate) are less willing to share with another if they know that the other has just eaten. This condition was compared with one in which they saw the other not eat or in which the other's interactions with food were obscured from view. The specific withholding reaction of the monkeys suggests that they understood that a monkey who has just eaten does not need any more food. Alternative hypotheses were considered, but the most important one -- that they merely reacted to the behavior or food motivation of the other -- could be excluded thanks to a control condition in which the other had eaten out of view. Under this condition, they readily shared with them. The study provides the first tentative evidence for "empathetic perspective-taking" in primates.
### END
Do monkeys know what others need?
2012-04-13
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Online Breast Augmentation Visualization Tools
2012-04-13
Trying to imagine what your breasts will look like after breast augmentation surgery can be nearly impossible. While an online tool will not give you an exact idea of what you will look like, it can be helpful in determining the size and shape of breast implants you are interested in. Some of your breast enlargement options will include types of implants, location of incisions, and placement of implants. The following online breast augmentation visualization tools can be useful in gaining a better idea of what these options may do for you:
- ReShapr.Com
- LoveYourLook.Com
These ...
Discovery of the Musket Ball Cluster
2012-04-13
Using a combination of powerful observatories in space and on the ground, astronomers have observed a violent collision between two galaxy clusters in which so-called normal matter has been wrenched apart from dark matter through a violent collision between two galaxy clusters.
The newly discovered galaxy cluster is called DLSCL J0916.2+2951. It is similar to the Bullet Cluster, the first system in which the separation of dark and normal matter was observed, but with some important differences. The newly discovered system has been nicknamed the "Musket ...
Multiple Trailer Accidents
2012-04-13
There are several reasons trucking companies employ double or triple trailers.
One of the most frequently cited reasons is fuel efficiency. Some industry studies have shown that single cabs pulling double or triple trailers eventually cost less in fuel than having multiple cabs pull single loads.
Increased efficiency is another reason trucking companies may wish to have a driver pull more than one trailer. If a driver can make one stop at a large commercial location, or make multiple stops at different locations in one haul, it can lead to faster delivery times.
Increasing ...
How Companies Profit from Defective Medical Devices
2012-04-13
Pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers often place profit before people. When news of defective medical products reaches these companies, they are often slow to react. This is because they anticipate more people buying their product and increasing their bottom line, and are gambling on a majority of these people not sustaining any injury.
Inaction on the part of medical device manufacturers may grow their bottom line, but the cost to victims is often tragic. Increased medical expenses, untold pain and suffering, and even death can result from defective ...
U of I study: Lose body weight before gaining baby weight
2012-04-13
URBANA – A new University of Illinois study contains a warning for obese women who are planning pregnancies. Even if they eat a healthy diet when they are pregnant, their babies will develop in an unhealthy environment that places the infants at risk for future health problems.
"We can see fat sequestered in the placentas of obese mothers when it should be going to the baby to support its growth. The nutrient supply region in the placenta of an obese mother is half the size of that of a normal-weight mother, even when both are eating the same healthy diet," said Yuan-Xiang ...
Determining total fertility in strip-tilled fields
2012-04-13
URBANA – Band fertilizer placement may cause non-uniform distribution in the soil. Why does this matter?
Because when fertilizer is unevenly distributed, it may not be possible to use traditional sampling strategies to measure whole-field fertility, said assistant professor of crop sciences Fabián Fernández. No recent published studies have looked at this problem.
Fernández has conducted research to determine potassium and phosphorous distribution in no-till and strip-till soils and to develop improved sampling procedures for measuring field fertility.
The problem, ...
Corless Barfield Defeats Tower Hill on Attempt to Force Repairs
2012-04-13
Today, in Marion County, Florida, in a case styled Glenn and Kimberly Trabing v. Tower Hill Select Insurance Company, Circuit Judge Frances King denied the most recent attempts by Tower Hill Select Insurance Company to force an insured to enter into a contract before payment for subsurface repairs will be paid.
Although the insurance policy in question indicated that Tower Hill may withhold coverage for subsurface repairs (e.g. grouting and underpinning) until these repairs are commenced, Ted Corless of the Tampa-based law firm Corless Associates, in conjunction with ...
Nearly 30 percent of all college athlete injuries a result of 'overuse'
2012-04-13
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Overuse injuries –found most often in low-contact sports that involve long training sessions or where the same movement is repeated numerous times – make up nearly 30 percent of all injuries sustained by collegiate athletes.
And a majority of overuse injuries (62 percent) occurred in females athletes, according to a new study published in the current edition of the Journal of Athletic Training, the National Athletic Trainers' Association scientific publication.
"Overuse injuries may present not only physical challenges but also psychological ones ...
Doctors and Second Opinions: In Some Cases, It Is Your Best Option
2012-04-13
For patients and their families, there are few areas in medicine more frustrating and unnerving than the issue of a misdiagnoses. To have availed themselves of the best modern medicine has to offer, and still suffer the bad result of a diagnostic error, seems supremely unfair, especially if it results in their death, leaving their family with the consolation of a wrongful death suit.
Doctors are Not Infallible
A recent study points out that 47 percent of doctors encounter diagnostic errors in the practice at least monthly. And these errors are not without consequence, ...
Train Accidents Plague Chicago Area, Kill Pedestrians
2012-04-13
The Chicago area is reeling after yet another teenager was killed in a train accident. The fifteen year old boy was walking along the tracks early in the morning, likely on his way to school. The exact cause of death remains unknown and police continue to investigate.
Unfortunately, pedestrian deaths related to train accidents are not rare. A pedestrian can be killed when walking along the tracks or can be pulled under a passing train. Additionally, train and car collisions at track intersections occur throughout Chicago.
Whether used to ship goods or for public transportation, ...