#372 Thibaud Gruber: Primates, Tool Use, and Communication
RECORDED ON AUGUST 12th, 2020.
Dr. Thibaud Gruber is Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Geneva, and he is also part of the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences. A primatologist halfway between Switzerland and the UK. Working with chimps, orangutans and bonobos, he is interested in the evolutionary origins of culture and language.
In this episode, we focus on tool use and vocalizations from chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans. We start with toll use, and go through some general topics, like how transmission of cultural knowledge occurs in these species, if they have cumulative culture or not, and their relationship with us. We then talk about vocalizations and intentional communication, before addressing the topics of affective social learning, behavioral plasticity, and the relation between environmental variation and the evolution of culture. Finally, we discuss overimitation in human infants.
Time Links:
Studying primates
Tool use
Transmission of cultural knowledge
Do other primates have cumulative culture?
Are chimps and bonobos really closer to humans than other primates?
Primate vocalizations
Do other primates have intentional communication?
Affective social learning and the emotional side of cultural learning in primates
Behavioral flexibility and culture
Enrivonmental variation and the evolution of culture
Do human infants overimitate?
Comparing humans to other primates
Follow Dr. Gruber’s work!
Follow Dr. Gruber’s work:
Faculty page: http://bit.ly/2TvUeJU
Website: https://bit.ly/2PMc0W9
ResearchGate profile: https://bit.ly/2PMrdGI
Twitter handle: @bonobo_style