Problem solving through tool use in Asian elephants
Item
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Title
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Problem solving through tool use in Asian elephants
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:448024647f10:11307
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identifier
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11723
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Creator
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Foerder, Preston,
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Contributor
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Diana Reiss
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Date
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2012
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Behavioral sciences | Cognitive psychology | Psychobiology | Elephants | Elephas maximus | Insight | Problem solving | Tool use
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Abstract
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Spontaneous problem solving without evident trial and error behavior has been referred to as insight. Surprisingly, elephants, thought to be highly intelligent, have failed to exhibit insightful problem solving in previous cognitive studies. I conducted ten experiments investigating problem solving through tool use on three Asian elephants. Experiment 1 was designed to test means-end recognition. Trays with food placed on one end were positioned outside the bars of the elephants' stalls. Each of the elephants pulled the tray, showing understanding of the means-end relationship. In Experiments 2 and 3, I tested if elephants would use sticks as tools to reach food trays placed just beyond their trunk reach or use sticks to knock out-of-reach fruit from an artificial tree. None of the elephants employed sticks to accomplish either task. A chain pulling problem to attain food through a multi-step solution was presented in Experiment 4. All elephants solved the problem and one completed the task immediately, suggesting insightful problem solving. In Experiment 5, I investigated if elephants, when presented with different types of potential tools, a movable platform and sticks, would show tool use to reach food suspended overhead, out-of-reach. Without prior trial and error behavior, a 7-year-old male showed spontaneous problem solving by moving a large plastic cube, on which he stood, to acquire the food. In Experiments 6--8, I tested if the elephant would generalize this ability to other positions and objects, which he demonstrated. In Experiment 9, I examined if tool use with sticks differed in relation to suspended food or an object. No difference was found. Social learning was tested in Experiment 10 by having one elephant demonstrate the solution to a tool use problem while a second elephant observed. No social learning was exhibited. The elephant's behavior in experiments 5--8 was consistent with the definition of insightful problem solving. Previous failures to demonstrate this ability in elephants may have resulted not from a lack of cognitive ability but from the presentation of tasks requiring trunk-held sticks as potential tools, thereby interfering with the trunk's use as a sensory organ to locate the targeted food.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
