Moscow University
Anthropology
Bulletin
Anthropology
Bulletin
Establishment of Medical Sciences Institute of Medical Primatology RAMS, Sochi, Russia
Anikaev A.E., e-mail: mg_anykey@mail.ru; Chalyan V.G., e-mail: vg_chalyan@mail.ru; Meishvili N.G., e-mail: natela_prim@list.ru
The availability of consciousness in animals has been for many years does not leave the minds of scientists somehow related to this problem. The solution to this problem would primarily deal with the evolution of the mental function and development during its anthropogenesis. Also clearly confirmed the fact of consciousness in animals will require a revision of measures for their use and conservation. But until now, researchers have not agreed on the availability of consciousness, nor regarding the methods that should be used to define it. Some scientists are inclined to admit the existence of an elementary consciousness even of invertebrate animals. In General, however, research is conducted on highly organized animals. The most common are those based on self-recognition, «theory of mind», and language learning intermediary. The most popular object of study is mainly monkeys and higher. And rightly so, because the use of modern primate species as models of ancestral forms gradually gives you the opportunity not only to thoroughly understand the mechanism of the human mind, but also allows us to analyze the development of this function at different stages of evolution and anthropogenesis order as a whole. Today, the development of mental functions primates increasingly associated with increased intra-group competition, manifested primarily in relation to social skills, and the complication caused by environmental conditions. In view of this it is interesting to compare primates characterized by different social structure. For this reason, this work is devoted to comparison of rhesus monkeys and papio hamadryas. Each of these is characterized by rigid social organization with a fairly strict hierarchy. But rhesus monkeys have matrilocal and matrilineal pronounced social structure, and papio hamadryas - patrilokal and harem herd structure. In addition, the habitat of these species differs to a certain extent: papio hamadryas - inhabitants of open semi-desert and savannah, rhesus monkeys live in forests and scrublands. As a criterion for evaluating the presence of consciousness, we chose the ability to take a conscious, willful decision used for this modified test Piaget - «A not B». Our goal - to find out the availability of this ability in these species, and a comparative analysis of the data and discuss the possible relationship with the differences in the social organization of these species, to explore gender, age and individual differences.
papio hamadryas, rhesus monkeys, Piaget «A not B» test, conscious choice, age differences, gender differences
Цит.: Anikaev A.E., Chalyan V.G., Meyshvili N.V. A comparative study of ability to conscious choice in rhesus monkeys (Macaca Mulatta) and baboons hamadryas (Papio Hamadryas) // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2014; 4/2014; с. 74-87
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