{"id":21122,"date":"2019-11-04T12:00:30","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T11:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.srlabs.it\/grandi-scimmie-e-teoria-della-mente\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T16:50:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T14:50:47","slug":"grandi-scimmie-e-teoria-della-mente","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.srlabs.it\/en\/grandi-scimmie-e-teoria-della-mente\/","title":{"rendered":"Great apes and theory of mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

The theory of mind is without a shadow of a doubt an ability that characterizes the human being.
We all know in fact that human beings are capable of attributing mental states such as intentions, desires, knowledge and emotions both to themselves and to others.
What many scholars have often wondered about, however, is whether only human beings are endowed with this capacity.<\/p>\n<\/div>

PNAS<\/a> (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America) has recently published a study conducted by Fumihiro Kano, Christopher Krupenye, Satoshi Hirata, Masaki Tomonaga, and Josep Call of Kyoto University’s Kumamoto Sanctuary and the Primate Research Institute. According to what was reported by Fumihiro Kano and colleagues, great apes would be able to understand and predict the actions of others, even passing the “false beliefs” test.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

How the experiment works<\/h3><\/div>

The experiment was conducted thanks to eye tracking technology which allowed observers to know with certainty where the primates’ gaze was directed and consequently where their attention was focused. During the test, a video was shown to a group of monkeys of different species.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>