Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Maternal behaviors that mediate skill development in Sumatran orangutans

Sauciuc, Gabriela-Alina LU ; Luna Martinez, Adriana LU ; Wester, Anna ; Hellgren, Tora and Persson, Tomas LU orcid (2021) The annual conference of the Cognitive Science Society In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society 43. p.1187-1193
Abstract
Although orangutans are closely related to humans, very little is known about their ontogenetic development. In particular, there is a lack of systematic research on the maternal behaviors that mediate skill development in early infancy. To address this topic, we conducted a longitudinal study in which a Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) mother-infant dyad was systematically observed across 28 months, starting with the infant’s birth. Our data revealed several classes of maternal behavior that potentially influenced infant skill development. The timing of these behaviors was contingent upon infant competence level, as active interventions were intense during periods of skill acquisition. The same behaviors were... (More)
Although orangutans are closely related to humans, very little is known about their ontogenetic development. In particular, there is a lack of systematic research on the maternal behaviors that mediate skill development in early infancy. To address this topic, we conducted a longitudinal study in which a Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) mother-infant dyad was systematically observed across 28 months, starting with the infant’s birth. Our data revealed several classes of maternal behavior that potentially influenced infant skill development. The timing of these behaviors was contingent upon infant competence level, as active interventions were intense during periods of skill acquisition. The same behaviors were flexibly deployed independent of whether the infant was in the process of acquiring foraging, locomotor or social skills. Our findings suggest that the maternal behaviors that mediate infant skill development in Sumatran orangutans have features reminiscent of human scaffolding, and raise questions about intentionality in such behaviors (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
orangutan ontogeny, skill acquisition, scaffolding, teaching
in
Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society
volume
43
pages
7 pages
conference name
The annual conference of the Cognitive Science Society
conference location
Vienna, Austria
conference dates
2021-07-26 - 2021-07-29
external identifiers
  • scopus:85139389790
ISSN
1069-7977
project
The development of social-cognitive abilities in a Sumatran orangutan infant
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
614db686-504e-46d6-afa9-571acc6e2dd6
alternative location
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/35h6z1hg
date added to LUP
2021-09-02 09:57:51
date last changed
2023-01-10 09:55:19
@article{614db686-504e-46d6-afa9-571acc6e2dd6,
  abstract     = {{Although orangutans are closely related to humans, very little is  known  about their ontogenetic  development.  In  particular, there is a lack of systematic research on the maternal behaviors that mediate skill development in early infancy. To address this topic, we conducted a longitudinal study in which a Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) mother-infant dyad was systematically  observed  across  28  months,  starting  with  the infant’s  birth.  Our  data  revealed  several  classes  of  maternal behavior that potentially influenced infant skill  development. The  timing  of  these  behaviors  was  contingent  upon  infant competence level, as active interventions were intense during periods of skill acquisition. The same behaviors were flexibly deployed independent of whether the infant was in the process of acquiring foraging, locomotor or social skills. Our findings suggest  that  the  maternal  behaviors  that  mediate  infant  skill development     in     Sumatran     orangutans     have     features reminiscent  of  human  scaffolding,  and  raise  questions  about intentionality in such behaviors}},
  author       = {{Sauciuc, Gabriela-Alina and Luna Martinez, Adriana and Wester, Anna and Hellgren, Tora and Persson, Tomas}},
  issn         = {{1069-7977}},
  keywords     = {{orangutan ontogeny; skill acquisition; scaffolding; teaching}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{1187--1193}},
  series       = {{Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society}},
  title        = {{Maternal behaviors that mediate skill development in Sumatran orangutans}},
  url          = {{https://escholarship.org/uc/item/35h6z1hg}},
  volume       = {{43}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}