Gaze following in Archosauria—Alligators and palaeognath birds suggest dinosaur origin of visual perspective taking
(2023) In Science Advances 9(20).- Abstract
- Taking someone else’s visual perspective marks an evolutionary shift in the formation of advanced social cognition. It enables using others’ attention to discover otherwise hidden aspects of the surroundings and is foundational for human communication and understanding of others. Visual perspective taking has also been found in some other primates, a few songbirds, and some canids. However, despite its essential role for social cognition, visual perspective taking has only been fragmentedly studied in animals, leaving its evolution and origins uncharted. To begin to narrow this knowledge gap, we investigated extant archosaurs by comparing the neurocognitively least derived extant birds—palaeognaths—with the closest living relatives of... (More)
- Taking someone else’s visual perspective marks an evolutionary shift in the formation of advanced social cognition. It enables using others’ attention to discover otherwise hidden aspects of the surroundings and is foundational for human communication and understanding of others. Visual perspective taking has also been found in some other primates, a few songbirds, and some canids. However, despite its essential role for social cognition, visual perspective taking has only been fragmentedly studied in animals, leaving its evolution and origins uncharted. To begin to narrow this knowledge gap, we investigated extant archosaurs by comparing the neurocognitively least derived extant birds—palaeognaths—with the closest living relatives of birds, the crocodylians. In a gaze following paradigm, we showed that palaeognaths engage in visual perspective taking and grasp the referentiality of gazes, while crocodylians do not. This suggests that visual perspective taking originated in early birds or nonavian dinosaurs—likely earlier than in mammals. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/827834c1-6019-4cce-9fc5-85e80fb79160
- author
- Zeiträg, Claudia LU ; Reber, Stephan LU and Osvath, Mathias LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023-05-19
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Science Advances
- volume
- 9
- issue
- 20
- pages
- 10 pages
- publisher
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:37205749
- scopus:85159642257
- ISSN
- 2375-2548
- DOI
- 10.1126/sciadv.adf0405
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 827834c1-6019-4cce-9fc5-85e80fb79160
- date added to LUP
- 2023-06-09 09:44:10
- date last changed
- 2023-06-12 13:56:24
@article{827834c1-6019-4cce-9fc5-85e80fb79160,
abstract = {{Taking someone else’s visual perspective marks an evolutionary shift in the formation of advanced social cognition. It enables using others’ attention to discover otherwise hidden aspects of the surroundings and is foundational for human communication and understanding of others. Visual perspective taking has also been found in some other primates, a few songbirds, and some canids. However, despite its essential role for social cognition, visual perspective taking has only been fragmentedly studied in animals, leaving its evolution and origins uncharted. To begin to narrow this knowledge gap, we investigated extant archosaurs by comparing the neurocognitively least derived extant birds—palaeognaths—with the closest living relatives of birds, the crocodylians. In a gaze following paradigm, we showed that palaeognaths engage in visual perspective taking and grasp the referentiality of gazes, while crocodylians do not. This suggests that visual perspective taking originated in early birds or nonavian dinosaurs—likely earlier than in mammals.}},
author = {{Zeiträg, Claudia and Reber, Stephan and Osvath, Mathias}},
issn = {{2375-2548}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{05}},
number = {{20}},
publisher = {{American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)}},
series = {{Science Advances}},
title = {{Gaze following in Archosauria—Alligators and palaeognath birds suggest dinosaur origin of visual perspective taking}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adf0405}},
doi = {{10.1126/sciadv.adf0405}},
volume = {{9}},
year = {{2023}},
}