Chimps Know When They're Right and Wrong, Just Like Humans

It turns out that chimps know when they're right-and often try to prove it. Researchers have discovered that chimpanzees are capable of metacognition, which is thinking about one's own thinking, and can adjust their behavior accordingly.

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. As an example, humans can report confidence or lack of confidence using numerical scales.

In this case, the researchers wanted to see if nonhuman animals show similar behavioral indications of confidence and uncertainty. In order to test this, the scientists gave three chimps a series of computerized tests for their memory. The researchers could manipulate how strong or weak the chimpanzees' memories would be when they completed the test by varying the kinds of things they needed to remember and how long they needed to remember them. After each test, there was a short delay before the program gave feedback about whether the answer given by the chimps was correct or incorrect.

If the answer was correct, the chimps would receive a food reward. However, this food reward was only delivered for a limited time. The chimps had the option of directly going to receive the reward without hearing whether the answer was correct or incorrect, or wait to hear whether they were correct and then rushing. The scientists used this as an indicator for how sure the chimps were.

The scientists found that the chimps acted in accordance with their memories-how sure or unsure they were. They were more likely to move toward the reward early when they were sure of themselves.

The findings reveal that chimps share the capacity for metacognitive monitoring. Although this capacity doesn't mean that chimpanzees have the same experiences humans can have when they act metacognitively, it does reflect a form of cognitive control that underlies intelligent decisions-making across species.

The findings are published in the journal Cognition.

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