The Cognitive Tradeoff Hypothesis

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Over in Japan, at the Primate Research Institute (Kyoto University), researchers have been studying primates for decades. One of the researchers there, dr. Tetsuro Matsuzawa, is comparing the cognitive abilities of chimpanzees to humans in order to learn more about how cognition evolved differently in humans. Based on his empirical findings he has come up with a very specific hypothesis about a tradeoff occurring in cognition, namely between memory and language. I recommend watching the video and here are a few of his important papers on the subject:

Matsuzawa 2007, Comparative cognitive development

This paper aims to compare cognitive development in humans and chimpanzees to illuminate the evolutionary origins of human cognition. Comparison of morphological data and life history strongly highlights the common features of all primate species, including humans. The human mother–infant relationship is characterized by the physical separation of mother and infant, and the stable supine posture of infants, that enables vocal exchange, face‐to‐face communication, and manual gestures. The cognitive development of chimpanzees was studied using the participation observation method. It revealed that humans and chimpanzees show similar development until 3 months of age. However, chimpanzees have a unique type of social learning that lacks the social reference observed in human children. Moreover, chimpanzees have unique immediate short‐term memory capabilities. Taken together, this paper presents a plausible evolutionary scenario for the uniquely human characteristics of cognition.

Matsuzawa 2009, Symbolic representation of number in chimpanzees

This paper aims to summarize the existing evidence for the symbolic representation of number in chimpanzees. Chimpanzees can represent, to some extent, both the cardinal and the ordinal aspect of number. Through the medium of Arabic numerals we compared working memory in humans and chimpanzees using the same apparatus and following the same procedure. Three young chimpanzees outperformed human adults in memorizing briefly presented numerals. However, we found that chimpanzees were less proficient at a variety of other cognitive tasks including imitation, cross-modal matching, symmetry of symbols and referents, and one-to-one correspondence. In sum, chimpanzees do not possesses human-like capabilities for representation at an abstract level. The present paper will discuss the constraints of the number concept in chimpanzees, and illuminate some unique features of human cognition.

Matsuzawa et al. 2017, Chimpanzees spontaneously take turns in a shared serial ordering task

Social coordination can provide optimal solutions to many kinds of group dilemmas, and non-human subjects have been shown to perform single actions successively or simultaneously with partners to maximize food rewards in a variety of experimental settings. Less attention has been given to showing how animals are able to produce multiple (rather than single) intermixed and co-regulated actions, even though many species’ signal transmissions and social interactions rely on extended bouts of coordinated turn-taking. Here we report on coordination behaviour in three pairs of chimpanzees (mother/offspring dyads) during an experimentally induced turn-taking scenario. Participants were given a “shared” version of a computer-based serial ordering task that they had previously mastered individually. We found that minimal trial-and-error learning was necessary for the participants to solve the new social version of the task, and that information flow was more pronounced from mothers toward offspring than the reverse, mirroring characteristics of social learning in wild chimpanzees. Our experiment introduces a novel paradigm for studying behavioural coordination in non-humans, able to yield insights into the evolution of turn-taking which underlies a range of social interactions, including communication and language.

 

[Zefram]

Dear forum post,

As a researcher in the field of cognitive development, I find Dr. Tetsuro Matsuzawa's work on the comparison of cognitive abilities between humans and chimpanzees to be incredibly fascinating. His hypothesis of a tradeoff between memory and language in cognition is a thought-provoking idea that warrants further investigation.

In his 2007 paper, Dr. Matsuzawa highlights the similarities in cognitive development between humans and chimpanzees, particularly in early infancy. However, he also points out distinct differences, such as the lack of social reference in chimpanzees' social learning. This suggests that while there are some shared cognitive abilities between humans and chimpanzees, there are also unique features in each species' cognitive development.

In the 2009 paper on the symbolic representation of numbers in chimpanzees, Dr. Matsuzawa and his team found that chimpanzees were able to represent numbers, but not at an abstract level like humans. This highlights the limitations of the number concept in chimpanzees and further supports the idea of a tradeoff between memory and language in cognition.

The 2017 study on turn-taking in chimpanzees also provides interesting insights into the evolution of social coordination and communication. The fact that information flow was more pronounced from mothers to offspring mirrors the characteristics of social learning in wild chimpanzees. This suggests that turn-taking and communication may have evolved from a shared history of social learning in our primate ancestors.

Overall, Dr. Matsuzawa's research sheds light on the complex nature of cognitive development and how it differs between humans and chimpanzees. His work has important implications for our understanding of the evolution of cognition and the unique cognitive abilities of humans. I look forward to seeing more research in this area and how it may shape our understanding of the human mind.