Self-recognition in chimpanzees and orangutans, but not gorillas

doi:10.1016/S0047-2484(81)80016-4

Journal of Human Evolution

Volume 10, Issue 2, February 1981, Pages 175-188

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2484(81)80016-4 Get rights and content

Recognition of one's own reflection in a mirror qualifies as an objective test of self-awareness. Although most primates appear incapable of learning that their behavior is the source of the behavior depicted in a mirror, the present study replicates previous reports showing that both chimpanzees and orangutans are capable of self-recognition. As the only remaining species of great ape, gorillas were also systematically tested with mirrors. Using a specially designed control procedure which provides independent evidence of interest in and motivation to touch unobtrusively applied marks used to assess self-recognition, gorillas appeared unable to correctly decipher mirrored information about themselves.

References (40)

GallupG.G. et al.
A mirror for the mind of man, or will the chimpanzee create an identity crisis for Homo sapiens?
Journal of Human Evolution
(1977)
ParkerC.E.
Opportunism and the rise of intelligence
Journal of Human Evolution
(1978)
PattersonF.G.
The gestures of a gorilla: Language acquisition in another pongid
Brain and Language
(1978)
RedshawM.
Cognitive development in human and gorilla infants
Journal of Human Evolution
(1978)
RumbaughD.M. et al.
The learning skills of great apes
Journal of Human Evolution
(1973)
RumbaughD.M. et al.
Readiness to attend to visual foreground cues
Journal of Human Evolution
(1973)
SperryR.W. et al.
Self-recognition and social awareness in the deconnected minor hemisphere
Neuropsychologia
(1979)
BruceE.J. et al.
Humans and apes are genetically very similar
Nature
(1978)
DavisR.T. et al.
DesmondA.J.

FischerG.J. et al.

Comparative learning in young gorillas and orangutans

Journal of Genetic Psychology

(1965)

GallupG.G.

Mirror-image stimulation

Psychological Bulletin

(1968)

GallupG.G.

Chimpanzees: self-recognition

Science

(1970)

GallupG.G.

Self-recognition in primates: a comparative approach to the bidirectional properties of consciousness

American Psychologist

(1977)

GallupG.G.

Self-recognition in chimpanzees and man: a developmental and comparative perspective

GallupG.G.

Self-awareness in primates

American Scientist

(1979)

GallupG.G.

Chimpanzees and self-awareness

GallupG.G. et al.

Capacity for self-recognition in differentially reared chimpanzees

Psychological Record

(1971)

Gallup, G. G., Jr. & Suarez, S. D. (in press). Overcoming our resistance to animal research: Man in comparative...

GallupG.G. et al.

Failure to find self-recognition in mother-infant and infant-infant rhesus monkey pairs

Folia Primatologica

(1980)

Cited by (205)

Visuotactile integration facilitates mirror-induced self-directed behavior through activation of hippocampal neuronal ensembles in mice
2024, Neuron
Remembering the visual features of oneself is critical for self-recognition. However, the neural mechanisms of how the visual self-image is developed remain unknown because of the limited availability of behavioral paradigms in experimental animals. Here, we demonstrate a mirror-induced self-directed behavior (MSB) in mice, resembling visual self-recognition. Mice displayed increased mark-directed grooming to remove ink placed on their heads when an ink-induced visual-tactile stimulus contingency occurred. MSB required mirror habituation and social experience. The chemogenetic inhibition of dorsal or ventral hippocampal CA1 (vCA1) neurons attenuated MSB. Especially, a subset of vCA1 neurons activated during the mirror exposure was significantly reactivated during re-exposure to the mirror and was necessary for MSB. The self-responding vCA1 neurons were also reactivated when mice were exposed to a conspecific of the same strain. These results suggest that visual self-image may be developed through social experience and mirror habituation and stored in a subset of vCA1 neurons.
Mirror mirror on the wall, it's not the mark I care about at all
2022, Learning and Motivation
The extent to which different species display self-recognition is a controversial topic in comparative cognition. Self-recognition is widely validated through the mark test in which a dye or paint mark is applied surreptitiously to the subject. Mark-directed responses in the presence of a mirror are taken as evidence of self-recognition. Over the past 50 years many different species have been administered the mark test, but only a handful have passed it. Some have suggested that species that pass the mark test are those that have a complex social structure. In this review, we propose, rather, that the reason why an animal fails the mark test is because the study has failed to adequately account for one or more of three crucial elements: mirror understanding, self-exploration, and mark saliency. Alternative methods of validating mirror self-recognition also are discussed.
An evolutionary view of self-awareness
2022, Behavioural Processes
Citation Excerpt :
Other evidence about self-recognition is less consistent. For example, some studies suggest that gorillas pass the MSR test (Parker, 1994; Patterson and Cohn, 1994; Posada and Colell, 2007), with others not supporting the notion (Gallup and Suarez, 1981; Shillito et al., 1999; Swartz and Evans, 1994). Similarly, the evidence on European magpies is inconclusive, with some results indicating self-recognition (Prior et al., 2008), but a recent study failing to replicate these findings (Soler et al., 2020).
The capacity to be self-aware is regarded as a fundamental difference between humans and other species. However, growing evidence challenges this notion, indicating that many animals show complex signs and behaviors that are consonant with self-awareness. In this review, we suggest that many animals are indeed self-aware, but that the complexity of this process differs among species. We discuss this topic by addressing several different questions regarding self-awareness: what is self-awareness, how has self-awareness been studied experimentally, which species may be self-aware, what are its potential adaptive advantages. We conclude by proposing alternative models for the emergence of self-awareness in relation to species evolutionary paths, indicating future research questions to advance this field further.
Robot passes the mirror test by inner speech[Formula presented]
2021, Robotics and Autonomous Systems
Citation Excerpt :
A probabilistic model emerges for estimating which seen facial muscles are located in which face part. Other methods integrate the visual feedback with the tactile one: in this case, the robot builds a visual-somatosensory map by touching itself and comparing its visual feedback to its haptic feedback [20]. Another method consists of statistically extract parts of the visual scene that do not change in different environments [21].
The mirror test is a well-known task in Robotics. The existing strategies are based on kinesthetic-visual matching techniques and manipulate perceptual and motion data. The proposed work attempts to demonstrate that it is possible to implement a robust robotic self-recognition method by the inner speech, i.e. the self-dialogue that enables reasoning on symbolic information. The robot self-talks and conceptually reasons on the symbolic forms of signals, and infers if the robot it sees in the mirror is itself or not. The idea is supported by the existing literature in psychology, where the importance of inner speech in self-reflection and self-concept emergence for solving the mirror test was empirically demonstrated.
Olfactory self-recognition in two species of snake
2024, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Roosters do not warn the bird in the mirror: The cognitive ecology of mirror self-recognition
2023, PLoS ONE

View all citing articles on Scopus

^*: Research conducted while a visiting Predoctoral Fellow at Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, U.S.A.

View full text

Self-recognition in chimpanzees and orangutans, but not gorillas

Journal of Human Evolution

Journal of Human Evolution

Brain and Language

Journal of Human Evolution

Journal of Human Evolution

Journal of Human Evolution

Neuropsychologia

Humans and apes are genetically very similar

Nature

Comparative learning in young gorillas and orangutans

Journal of Genetic Psychology

Mirror-image stimulation

Psychological Bulletin

Chimpanzees: self-recognition

Science

Self-recognition in primates: a comparative approach to the bidirectional properties of consciousness

American Psychologist

Self-recognition in chimpanzees and man: a developmental and comparative perspective

Self-awareness in primates

American Scientist

Chimpanzees and self-awareness

Capacity for self-recognition in differentially reared chimpanzees

Psychological Record

Failure to find self-recognition in mother-infant and infant-infant rhesus monkey pairs

Folia Primatologica