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Temporal Segmentation in Hand Movements of Chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) and Comparisons with Humans
Author(s) -
Kien Jenny,
Schleidt Margret,
Schöttner Bernd
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
ethology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.739
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-0310
pISSN - 0179-1613
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0310.1991.tb00375.x
Subject(s) - troglodytes , movement (music) , action (physics) , communication , psychology , repetition (rhetorical device) , duration (music) , cognitive psychology , biology , ecology , linguistics , art , philosophy , physics , literature , quantum mechanics , aesthetics
Hand movement action units in chimpanzees show temporal segmentation similar to but shorter than that in humans; median durations are 0.9 s in non‐repetitive behaviour and 2.4 s in repetitive behaviour (vs. 2.0 s and 3.0 s in humans: Schleidt 1988; Feldhütter et al. 1990). In neither chimpanzees nor humans does one repetition of a movement within an action unit increase the duration of the action unit; each further repetition of movements in the action unit tends to prolong it by only 0.5–1 s. Thus, in both chimpanzees and humans, there appears to be some presyntactical planning in advance in repetitive hand movements. The quantitative differences in segment length may reflect uniquely human abilities of timing or sequencing muscle contractions. These findings fit well with current hypotheses that syntactical ability in language could have evolved from motor organisation.