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From the information below: There is evidence that the great apes can produce gestures that refer to external entities. a) True b) False In the visual domain, primates use a range of facial displays and body part movements as communication signals, sometimes combined with tactile components. Gorilla chest beating and Rhesus monkeys bared-teeth displays are examples of how different species express social rank with visual signals. Current research has focused much on gestures, which are interesting because of their partly flexible, partly species-specific use in a variety of social contexts. Gestures have been studied mainly in great apes, where considerable variation between individuals and groups has been found. Whether some of this variation is socially learned and thus potentially ‘cultural’ is still an unresolved question. A more established finding is that, during gesturing, apes take into account each other's attention and deploy their signals accordingly (Call & Tomasello 2007; Figure 1). Interestingly, however, there is almost no evidence that primate gestures, or combinations thereof, carry symbolic meaning by referring to external entities (Cartmill & Byrne 2010). Instead, they appear to function primarily to facilitate ongoing social interactions, to bond with others, or to persuade others to behave in a desired way. Another feature of human communication is that speech acts can be symbolic by referring to both mental entities and events in the outside world. Furthermore, humans make ample use of indexical and iconic signals, such as pointing or pantomiming, and from an early age, infants understand that symbolic and indexical signals complement each other in their capacity to refer to external objects (Gliga & Csibra 2009). Although laboratory research has shown that great apes can learn a considerable number of arbitrary symbols and follow indexical signals, there is little evidence that they use such acquired skills in creative ways or when communicating with each other (e.g., Savage-Rumbaugh et al. 1986).

From the information below: There is evidence that the great apes can produce gestures that refer to external entities.

a) True
b) False

In the visual domain, primates use a range of facial displays and body part movements as communication signals, sometimes combined with tactile components. Gorilla chest beating and Rhesus monkeys bared-teeth displays are examples of how different species express social rank with visual signals. Current research has focused much on gestures, which are interesting because of their partly flexible, partly species-specific use in a variety of social contexts. Gestures have been studied mainly in great apes, where considerable variation between individuals and groups has been found. Whether some of this variation is socially learned and thus potentially ‘cultural’ is still an unresolved question. A more established finding is that, during gesturing, apes take into account each other's attention and deploy their signals accordingly (Call & Tomasello 2007; Figure 1). Interestingly, however, there is almost no evidence that primate gestures, or combinations thereof, carry symbolic meaning by referring to external entities (Cartmill & Byrne 2010). Instead, they appear to function primarily to facilitate ongoing social interactions, to bond with others, or to persuade others to behave in a desired way.

Another feature of human communication is that speech acts can be symbolic by referring to both mental entities and events in the outside world. Furthermore, humans make ample use of indexical and iconic signals, such as pointing or pantomiming, and from an early age, infants understand that symbolic and indexical signals complement each other in their capacity to refer to external objects (Gliga & Csibra 2009). Although laboratory research has shown that great apes can learn a considerable number of arbitrary symbols and follow indexical signals, there is little evidence that they use such acquired skills in creative ways or when communicating with each other (e.g., Savage-Rumbaugh et al. 1986).

From the information below: There is evidence that the great apes can produce gestures that refer to external entities.

a) True
b) False

In the visual domain, primates use a range of facial displays and body part movements as communication signals, sometimes combined with tactile components. Gorilla chest beating and Rhesus monkeys bared-teeth displays are examples of how different species express social rank with visual signals. Current research has focused much on gestures, which are interesting because of their partly flexible, partly species-specific use in a variety of social contexts. Gestures have been studied mainly in great apes, where considerable variation between individuals and groups has been found. Whether some of this variation is socially learned and thus potentially ‘cultural’ is still an unresolved question. A more established finding is that, during gesturing, apes take into account each other's attention and deploy their signals accordingly (Call Tomasello 2007; Figure 1). Interestingly, however, there is almost no evidence that primate gestures, or combinations thereof, carry symbolic meaning by referring to external entities (Cartmill Byrne 2010). Instead, they appear to function primarily to facilitate ongoing social interactions, to bond with others, or to persuade others to behave in a desired way.

Another feature of human communication is that speech acts can be symbolic by referring to both mental entities and events in the outside world. Furthermore, humans make ample use of indexical and iconic signals, such as pointing or pantomiming, and from an early age, infants understand that symbolic and indexical signals complement each other in their capacity to refer to external objects (Gliga Csibra 2009). Although laboratory research has shown that great apes can learn a considerable number of arbitrary symbols and follow indexical signals, there is little evidence that they use such acquired skills in creative ways or when communicating with each other (e.g., Savage-Rumbaugh et al. 1986).

Added by William W.

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