From parallel studies in Africa and Japan, the focus of his research is to synthesize fieldwork and laboratory work to understand the nature of chimpanzees. <\/p>\n
The Japanese primatologist Tetsuro Matsuzawa has participated today in the conference “Evolution of the human mind seen from the study of the mind of a chimpanzee”,<\/strong> which we have organized at our headquarters in collaboration with the Spanish Primatological Association, which celebrates its 25th anniversary.<\/p>\n Matsuzawa presented the results of years of study on the chimpanzee mind and its evolution from the human mind. He is director of the Primate Research Institute <\/em>at Kyoto University (Japan), an open-air laboratory where a habitat for primates in the wild was recreated, wheresince 1977 he has been conducting memory tests on chimpanzees through participatory observation<\/strong>. Primates voluntarily participate in these cognitive experiments. <\/p>\n In addition, he has been researching primates in the wild in Bossou (Guinea) for almost 40 years. Bossou chimpanzees use stones to open nuts, a unique characteristic of this group, a cultural practice that they begin to develop from the age of 5, acquiring this ability through observation. <\/p>\n From parallel studies in Africa and Japan, Matsuzawa’s research focus is to synthesize fieldwork and laboratory work to understand the nature of chimpanzees, our evolutionary neighbors.<\/p>\n The Ai (love in Japanese) project, which he is developing in the Japanese laboratory, consists of testing the extraordinary memory of chimpanzees<\/strong>. The primatologist pointed out that chimpanzees “outperform humans in some simple memory tasks”. He argued that this shows that “the memory capacity of chimpanzees is superior to that studied in adult humans, who do not do the exercises with the same ease or speed”. “We thought we were the most intelligent beings, but a single test changes everything,”<\/strong> he concluded. <\/p>\n Matsuzawa has identified it as a cognitive exchange hypothesis, which indicates that humans develop language under pressure from our habitat, and chimpanzees in theirs have been forced to strengthen their memory to recognize where their sustenance is.<\/p>\n Humans live in a family, in a society in which we need to share information, we need language because of our intrinsic motivation to share<\/strong>; Primates lack this motivation.<\/p>\n Matsuzawa stressed that “understanding the chimpanzee mind is like opening a window to human consciousness. Many of our complex cognitive systems have origins that can be seen in the way these mammals think, learn, and behave.” <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":35990,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"palabras_clave":[],"class_list":["post-97858298","actualidad_home","type-actualidad_home","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n