![]() ![]() PCA allowed us to derive unbiased component performance constructs based on item loadings of the different tasks. To assess the structure and heritability in cognitive performance in the chimpanzees, we performed principal component analysis (PCA) on their accuracy for individual PCTB tasks. The 13 tasks are designed to assess a variety of cognitive abilities, broadly defined as non-social and social cognition. We further found significant genetic correlations between different dimensions of cognitive functioning, suggesting that the same genes may explain their variability.Ĭognitive performance was assessed on 13 tasks from the Primate Cognition Test Battery (PCTB) task originally developed by Herrmann and colleagues. We found that some but not all cognitive traits were significantly heritable in chimpanzees. ![]() Here, we utilized a modified Primate Cognitive Test Battery in conjunction with quantitative genetic analyses to examine whether cognitive performance is heritable in chimpanzees. Specifically, aside from early attempts to selectively breed for learning skills in rodents, studies examining the role that genetic factors might play in individual variation in cognitive abilities in nonhuman animals, particularly nonhuman primates, are scarce. This, in turn, has lead to a renewed interest in the role that social and biological factors might play in explaining individual and phylogenetic differences in cognition. A large body of research has now accumulated demonstrating a variety of cognitive abilities in nonhuman animals that challenge traditional behaviorist interpretations of performance. In contrast to human IQ, until recently, views of learning and cognition in animals have largely been dominated by the behaviorist school of thought, originally championed by Watson and Skinner. It has now become increasingly clear that IQ is heritable in humans but these effects can be modified by non-genetic mechanisms. The role that genes play in human intelligence or IQ has remained a point of significant scientific debate dating back to the time of Galton. ![]()
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