Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and orangutan (Pongo abelii) forethought: self-control and pre-experience in the face of future tool use

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Animal Cognition Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Planning for future needs has traditionally been considered to be restricted to human cognition. Although recent studies on great ape and corvid cognition challenge this belief, the phylogenesis of human planning remains largely unknown. The complex skill for future planning has not yet been satisfactorily established in any other extant primate species than our own. In humans, planning for future needs rely heavily on two overarching capacities, both of which lie at the heart of our cognition: self-control, often defined as the suppression of immediate drives in favor of delayed rewards, and mental time travel, which could be described as a detached mental experience of a past or future event. Future planning is linked to additional high complexity cognition such as metacognition and a consciousness usually not attributed to animals. In a series of four experiments based on tool use, we demonstrate that chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and orangutans (Pongo abelii) override immediate drives in favor of future needs, and they do not merely rely on associative learning or semantic prospection when confronted with a planning task. These results suggest that great apes engage in planning for the future by out competing current drives and mentally pre-experiencing an upcoming event. This suggests that the advanced mental capacities utilized in human future planning are shared by phylogenetically more ancient species than previously believed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ainslie G (1974) Impulse control in pigeons. J Exp Anal Behav 21:485–489

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ainslie G (2001) Breakdown of Will. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Ainslie G (2007) Foresight has to pay off in the present moment. Behav Brain Sci 30:313–314

    Google Scholar 

  • Andreasen NC, O’Leary DS, Cizadlo T, Arndt S, Rezai K, Watkins GL, Ponto LL, Hichwa RD (1995) Remembering the past: two facets of episodic memory explored with positron emission tomography. Am J Psychiatry 152:1576–1585

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Atance CM, Meltzoff AN (2007) How developmental science contributes to theories of future thinking. Behav Brain Sci 30:314–315

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atance CM, O’Neill DK (2001) Episdodic future thinking. Trends Cognit Sci 5:533–539

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atance CM, O’Neill DK (2005) The emergence of episodic future thinking in humans. Learn Motiv 36:126–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beran MJ, Evans TA (2006) Maintenance of delay of gratification by four chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Behav Process 73:315–324

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beran MJ, Savage-Rumbaugh ES, Pate JL, Rumbaugh DM (1999) Delay of gratification in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Dev Psychobiol 34:119–127

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Boesch C, Boesch-Acherman H (2000) The Chimpanzees of the Taï Forest: behavioural ecology and evolution. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolles RC (1970) Species-specific defence reactions and avoidance learning. Psych Rev 77:32–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buckner RL, Carroll DC (2007) Self-projection and the brain. Trends Cognit Sci 11:49–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne R (1995) The thinking ape: evolutionary origins of intelligence. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Call J (2006) Descartes’ two errors: reason and reflection in the great apes. In: Hurley S, Nudds M (eds) Rational animals. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 219–234

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlson SM, Moses LJ (2001) Individual differences in inhibitory control and children’s theory of mind. Child Dev 72:1032–1053

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Christoff K, Ream JM, Gabrieli JDE (2004) Neural basis of spontaneous thought processes. Cortex 40:623–630

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Clayton NS, Dickinson A (1998) Episodic-like memory during cache recovery by scrub jays. Nature 395:272–274

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Clayton NS, Dickinson A (1999) Scrub jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens) remember the relative time of cahing as well as the ___location and content of their caches. J Comp Psychol 113:403–416

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Correia SPC, Dickinson A, Clayton NS (2007) Western scrub-jays anticipate future needs independently of their current motivational state. Curr Biol 17:856–861

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • de Waal FBM (1982) Chimpanzee politics: power and sex among apes. Jonathan Cape, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Duckworth AL, Seligman MEP (2005) Self-discipline outdoes IQ in predicting academic performance of adolescents. Psychol Sci 16:939–944

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Emery NJ (2006) Cognitive ornithology: the evolution of avian intelligence. Philos Trans R Soc B 361:23–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans TA, Beran MJ (2007) Chimpanzees use self-distraction to cope with impulsivity. Biol Lett, doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2007.0399

  • Forzano LB, Logue AW (1992) Predictors of adult humans’ self-control and impulsiveness for food reinforcers. Appetite 19:33–47

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fredrick S, Loewenstein G, O’Donoghue T (2002) Time discounting: a critical review. J Econ Lit 40:351–401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardiner JM (2002) Episodic memory and autonoetic consciousness: a first person approach. In: Baddeley A, Conway M, Aggleton J (eds) Episodic memory–new directions in research. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 11–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert DT, Wilson TD (2007) Prospection: Experiencing the future. Science 317:1351–1354

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gulz A (1991) The planning of action as a cognitive and biological phenomenon. Lund Univ Cognit Stud 2:1–187

    Google Scholar 

  • Ingvar DH (1979) “Hyperfrontal” distribution of the cerebral grey matter flow in resting wakefulness: on the functional anatomy of the conscious state. Acta Neurol Scand 60:12–25

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Köhler W (1921) Zur psychologie des schimpansen. Psychol Forsch 1:2–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Köhler W (1925) The mentality of apes. Penguin Books, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Maslow AH (1943) A theory of human motivation. Psych Rev 50:370–396

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macphail EM (1998) The evolution of consciousness. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Mischel W, Shoda Y, Rodriguez M (1989) Delay of gratification in children. Science 244:933–938

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mulcahy NJ, Call J (2006) Apes save tool for future use. Science 312:1038–1040

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mulcahy NJ, Call J, Dunbar R (2005) Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) encode relevant problem features in a tool-using task. J Comp Psychol 119:23–32

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Naqshbandi M, Roberts WA (2006) Anticipation of future events in squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) and rats (Rattus norvegicus): Test of the Bischof-Kohler hypothesis. J Comp Psychol 120:345–357

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Noble W, Davidson I (1996) Human evolution, language and mind: a psychological and archaeological inquiry. Cambridge University Press, Melbourne

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Doherty J, Rolls ET, Francis S, Bowtell R, McGlone F, Kobal G, Renner B, Ahne G (2000) Senosory-specific satiety-related olfactory activation of the human orbitofrontal cortex. Neuroreport 11:399–403

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Osvath M, Gärdenfors P (2005) Oldowan culture and the evolution of anticipatory cognition. Lund Univ Cognit Stud 122:1–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Premack D (2007) Humans and animal cognition: continuity and discontinuity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:13861–13867

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Raby CR, Alexis DM, Dickinson A, Clayton NS (2007) Planning for the future by western scrub-jays. Nature 445:919–921

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ramseyer A, Pelé M, Dufour V, Chauvin C, Thierry B (2006) Accepting loss: the temporal limits of reciprocity in brown capuchin monkeys. Proc R Soc B 273:179–184

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rilling JK, Barks SK, Parr LA, Preuss TM, Faber TL, Pagnoni G, Bremner JD, Votaw JR (2007) A comparison of resting-state brain activity in humans and chimpanzees. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:17146–17151

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts WA (2002) Are animals stuck in time? Psych Bull 128:473–489

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts WA (2006) The questions of temporal and spatial displacement in animal cognition. In: Wasserman EA, Zentall TR (eds) Comparative cognition: experimental explorations of animal intelligence. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 145–63

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosati AG, Stevens JR, Hare B, Hauser MD (2007) The evolutionary origins of human patience: temporal preferences in chimpanzees, bonobos, and human adults. Curr Biol 17:1663–1668

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz BL, Hoffman ML, Evans S (2005) Episodic-like memory in a gorilla: a review and new findings. Learn Motiv 36:226–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seligman MEP (1970) On the generality of the laws of learning. Psych Rev 77:406–418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shettleworth SJ (2007) Planning for breakfast. Nature 445:825–826

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Small DM, Zatorre RJ, Dagher A, Evans AC, Jones-Gotman M (2001) Changes in brain activity related to eating chocolate: from pleasure to aversion. Brain 124:1720–1733

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stevens J, Rosati A, Ross K, Hauser M (2005) Will travel for food: spatial discounting in two new world monkeys. Curr Biol 15:1855–1860

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Suddendorf T (2006) Foresight and evolution of the human mind. Science 312:1006–1007

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Suddendorf T, Busby J (2005) Making decisions with the future in mind. Learn Motiv 36:110–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suddendorf T, Corballis MC (1997) Mental time travel and the evolution of the human mind. Genet Soc Gen Psychol Monogr 123:133–167

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Suddendorf T, Corballis MC (2007) The evolution of foresight: what is mental time travel and is it unique to humans? Behav Brain Sci 30:299–351

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Suddendorf T, Corballis MC (2008). New evidence for animal foresight? Anim Behav. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2008.01.006

  • Szpunar KK, Watson JM, McDermott KB (2007) Neural substrates of envisioning the future. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:642–647

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tangney JP, Baumeister RF, Boone AL (2004) High self-control predicts good adjustment, less pathology, better grades and interpersonal success. J Pers 72:271–324

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tobin H, Logue A (1994) Self-control across species. J Comp Psychol 108:126–133

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tulving E (1972) Episodic and semantic memory. In: Tulving E, Donaldson W (eds) Organization of memory. New York Academic Press, New York, pp 381–403

    Google Scholar 

  • Tulving E (2005) Episodic memory and autonoesis: uniquely human? In: Terrace H, Metcalfe J (eds) The missing link in cognition: evolution of self-knowing consciousness. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 3–56

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the members of the LUCS-seminar and Josep Call, Frans de Waal, Daniel Haun, Tomas Persson, Endel Tulving and Staffan Ulfstrand. We are especially grateful to Ing-Marie Persson at Furuvik Zoo.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lunds University Cognitive Science, Lund, Sweden

    Mathias Osvath & Helena Osvath

Authors
  1. Mathias Osvath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. Helena Osvath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mathias Osvath.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Osvath, M., Osvath, H. Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and orangutan (Pongo abelii) forethought: self-control and pre-experience in the face of future tool use. Anim Cogn 11, 661–674 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-008-0157-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-008-0157-0

Keywords