Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Table of Contents - August 2012 - Volume 35, Issue 04  

Open Peer Commentary

Motor planning in primates

Daniel J. Weissa1, Kate M. Chapmana2, Jason D. Warka3 and David A. Rosenbauma4

a1 Department of Psychology and Program in Linguistics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802. djw21@psu.edu

a2 Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802. kmc385@psu.edu

a3 Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106. jason.wark@case.edu

a4 Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802. dar12@psu.edu

Abstract

Vaesen asks whether goal maintenance and planning ahead are critical for innovative tool use. We suggest that these aptitudes may have an evolutionary foundation in motor planning abilities that span all primate species. Anticipatory effects evidenced in the reaching behaviors of lemurs, tamarins, and rhesus monkeys similarly bear on the evolutionary origins of foresight as it pertains to tool use.

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    The cognitive bases of human tool use Krist Vaesen Philosophy & Ethics, School of Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5612 AZ Eindhoven, The Netherlands. k.vaesen@tue.nl http://home.ieis.tue.nl/kvaesen