Social living does not increase the propensity to cooperate per se. Semi-solitary apes can assess the likelihood of cooperation from a partner based on incentives. However, social living makes communication between individuals more salient, turning it into a key tool towards successful cooperation.
Both species initiated cooperation when partners had incentive to cooperate in return. Critically, chimpanzee tool givers were more responsive to recipients’ attention-getting signals than orang-utans. So how does social living affect cooperation?
Critically, the partner would also have a solo reward.
Notwithstanding the different gregariousness of the species, the cooperation rate did not differ between them. Both species based decisions primarily on the individual immediate payoffs.
We set out to study the proximate mechanisms that would affect their willingness to cooperate. We investigated this in a tool-transfer task in which a participant can decide to either use a tool for a reward for themselves or pass the tool hoping the partner would cooperate for a different reward.
Thrilled to announce our new paper with @elisafelsche.bsky.social , @christophvoelter.bsky.social and Josep Call on how orang-utans and chimpanzees cooperate strategically based on the partner's incentives. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Only 12 years from the day we collected the first data point for this fun project… all my fault! Sorry! Very proud of the spaghetti tube apparatus. As an Italian, walking into the zoo with a pack of spaghetti every testing day made for some fun interactions. Thank you Christoph, Elisa and Josep!
Deep dive: youtube.com/live/-o7x8tZ...
Study signup: cclab.ucsd.edu
Documentary: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vi...
I had a blast participating in a @novapbs.bsky.social
deep dive with Christina Hunger, hosted by Julia Cort and Chris Schmidt.
If you are interested or skeptical about dogs trained with soundboards to communicate with humans, I hope you will check it out. And check out the NOVA documentary as well
Today at 9pm ET/PT is the US premiere of the @pbs.org NOVA documentary "Can Dogs Talk?". It covers the project @cclabucsd.bsky.social has been running with thousands of button trained dogs. It is a true honor to be on NOVA and we hope you will find it engaging: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vi...
If you want to see the full livestream, check out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEFo...
A brief extract from a fun livestream with awesome colleagues hosted by Dr. Anne Valuska, organized by
@templetonworld.bsky.social and Purina.
Let's give non-human animals a real chance to show us how intelligent and capable they are. We can only benefit from engaging with nature with an open mind
If you want to know more about the ongoing research, you can check out this online lecture: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpjF...
And if you want to join our citizen science, you can sign up here: cclab.ucsd.edu/pet-cognitio...
For more info about the documentary you can check out: ideacom.tv/en/productio...
A special thank you to @rverdecchia.bsky.social, Olly Bootle, Joseph Russell, Emma Ross, Kirstie McLure and all people involved in this production for making this possible.
On September 28th at 18:30 the French language premiere of the documentary "Can dogs talk?" will air on @iciradiocanada.bsky.social Découverte series
@cclabucsd.bsky.social work on soundboard trained dogs is a central piece of this documentary. English versions will air on NOVA and CBC in early 2026
I had the most wonderful time presenting our current progress on this project to the amazing @interspecies-io.bsky.social community! If you could not attend but are interested in finding out more about our work, check out the lecture here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpjF...
Thank you so much for the invitation! Very much looking forward to giving this talk and connecting with your community!
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, owners have been training their dogs to “tell” them what they want by mashing buttons with their paws to express words in various human languages. A UCSD study began to explore the practice further and now includes participants in dozens of countries worldwide.
Today (April 30th) is 🔱 #TritonGivingDay Please donate to support the students in @cclabucsd.bsky.social studying 10,000 pets from 47 countries in the largest Animal Communication study ever attempted! We need your help tinyurl.com/2s3ksem2 ! This beauty is Parker! @ucsandiego.bsky.social
Thank you to @npr.org , @kpbssandiego.bsky.social @theworld.org and @MarcoWerman for covering our study on pets communication: theworld.org/segments/202...
If you are interested in participating in the study check out: cclab.ucsd.edu
We have a few more on the way (one about cats) that we hope you will find interesting. Critically, we are trying hard to be careful and systematic and we are NOT saying that they are "talking". If you want to participate in the study (or donate to support the work) check out: cclab.ucsd.edu
This is the first large dataset longitudinal analysis of how 152 dogs were using those buttons (based on 260,000 presses collected over 21 months). They were using them intentionally and non-randomly and they were not merely mimicking the training they received.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This is the first experimental paper we published, where we show that they pay attention to the sounds produced by the buttons and they seem to comprehend the meaning of at least some of them. And we rule out Clever Hans effect
dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
This paper explains why we started the project, why we thought it was reasonable and timely, what we were initially after and some initial descriptive data from Bunny using the buttons
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
This is a review of prior research on Augmentative Interspecies Communication devices (such as lexigrams and buttons) with animals. Some of the things we learn and some of the mistakes that were made.
wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Thank you
@ucnewsroom.bsky.social for creating this informative and even handed representation of the challenges and opinions around pets pushing buttons to communicate with humans. See below a few papers we published on it. We have 3 more on the way (one about cats)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTnV...
A poem for these highly unpredictable times:
Si sta come
D’autunno
Sugli alberi
Le foglie
We feel like
In Autumn
On trees
The leaves
By Giuseppe Ungaretti
We are less than a week away from our first ever Detection Dog Trials event with MAN-K9 at UCSD! We hope to see you there, this Saturday & Sunday March 8th & 9th! 🐕🐾
@cclabucsd.bsky.social is delighted to move into the amazing realm of working dogs and highly trained family dogs. This event will help us develop new tools to better assess and improve dog-handler communication and bond. Sign up here: detectiondogtrialsucsd.com and please help RT.
