Chimpanzees are capable of metacognition, or thinking about one's own thinking, and can adjust their behaviour accordingly, researchers at Georgia State University, Agnes Scott College, Wofford College and the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York have discovered.

Their findings, published June 6 in the journal Cognition, suggest chimpanzees share with humans the capacity for metacognitive monitoring, which reflects a form of cognitive control that underlies intelligent decision-making across species.

Metacognition occurs when individuals monitor what they know and don't know, when they seek information they need to know and when they respond to a question with high confidence or low confidence. Confidence measures are one clear means of looking at how humans monitor their own knowledge states. Humans can orally report confidence or lack of confidence or even use numerical ratings scales. They also can give confidence ratings through non-verbal behaviours such as shoulder shrugs, hesitations in responses and similar behaviours.

The research team wanted to know if nonhuman animals show similar behavioural indications of confidence and uncertainty. The results suggest chimpanzees show similar behaviour to humans, said Dr. Michael Beran, associate director of the Language Research Centre at Georgia State.

Source: www.sciencedaily.com