Establishing Line Tracing on a Touch Monitor as a Basic Drawing Skill in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Abstract

The goal of the study was to establish a perceptual-motor pattern of controlled line drawing in the chimpanzee. If such a controlled drawing could be established, an experimental basis would exist for subsequent teaching of writing to nonhuman Ss. A fully automated, computer-controlled system with precise recording of the location of drawing was used. The authors were able to draw a number of conclusions from their study on learning to draw, inluding: the chimpanzee as a model for teaching without verbal instruction, drawing as a measure of intelligence or an acquired skill, and objective studies of behavior using a touch monitor. The study suggests that the skill of drawing and copying can be learned by subjects who at first can only scribble, and that this learning process can be examined systematically. The work with chimpanzees can serve as a model for teaching without the use of verbal instructions. The complexity of the skills that the chimpanzees proved capable of acquiring depended very much on the ability of the experimenters to design teaching methods that would allow the Ss to come into contact with the relevant controlling stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)