PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
From an early age, children explore their environment in a way suggesting that they reason about causal variables and seek causal explanations. Indeed, following extensive studies of problem-solving abilities in chimpanzees, Povinelli (Folk Physics for Apes, Oxford University Press, 2000) proposed that this ability to reason about unobservable variables is unique to humans. Following on from this, Povinelli and Dunphy-Lelii (Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 55(2), 187-195, 2001) addressed the question whether chimpanzees would explore objects with the aim of elucidating unobservable and surprising object properties. Chimpanzees, unlike preschool children, did not show increased object exploration following a change in the unobservable properties of an object. We critically discuss these findings and argue that more research using a greater variety of methods and with a larger number of species is required to support the hypothesis that only humans engage in explanation seeking. We conclude by highlighting avenues for future research based on developmental and comparative research aimed at object exploration and information seeking conducted since the original investigation by Povinelli and Dunphy-Lelii.
摘要：
从很小的时候,儿童以某种方式探索他们的环境，表明他们推理因果变量并寻求因果解释。的确,经过对黑猩猩解决问题能力的广泛研究，波维内利（猿类民间物理学，牛津大学出版社,2000）提出，这种推理不可观察变量的能力是人类独有的。从这个开始，波维内利和邓菲-莱利(加拿大实验心理学杂志，55(2)、187-195，2001）解决了黑猩猩是否会探索物体的问题，目的是阐明不可观察和令人惊讶的物体属性。黑猩猩,与学龄前儿童不同，在对象的不可观察属性发生变化后，没有显示对象探索的增加。我们批判性地讨论了这些发现，并认为需要使用更多种类的方法和更多物种的更多研究来支持只有人类参与解释寻求的假设。最后，我们强调了自Povinelli和Dunphy-Lelii进行原始调查以来，基于针对对象探索和信息寻求的发展和比较研究的未来研究途径。
