Oct 18, 2019
Vidcast: https://youtu.be/3V6fqO7M0sg
Capuchin and Rhesus monkeys think outside the box better than people when it comes to problem solving. Psychologists at Georgia State University pitted 29 monkeys against 60 college students in a computer game contest.
The monkeys figured out shortcuts to victory faster and used them more often than the students. Other experiments show that chimpanzees and baboons also perform better than humans, who tend to rely more on familiar strategies demonstrating less so-called cognitive flexibility.
We humans are often victims of our learned biases about vaccines, climate change, race, and politics. Be a monkey’s uncle, and make the most of your innate brainpower by opening your mind and unleashing your imagination.
Julia Watzek, Sarah M. Pope, Sarah F. Brosnan. Capuchin and rhesus monkeys but not humans show cognitive flexibility in an optional-switch task. Scientific Reports, 2019; 9 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-49658-0
Monkeys, problemsolving, creativity