Towards a comparative theory of the primates' tool-use behavior

Abstract

Primates can use tools effectively, and each of the species exhibits different tool-use behavior. We study what difference in tool-use behavior will be observed if different internal models of the environment are used for planning. We compare two agents with different internal models, each of which consists of an artificial neural network. The first agent (agent 1) has an internal model that predicts the outcome of a given task. The second agent (agent 2) has an internal model that predicts a step-by-step state transition of the environment. By employing a rake-use task, we demonstrate that agent 2 can adapt to a task change more quickly than agent 1. The results suggest a possibility that the internal model available to each primate species can be inferred by investigating the response of the species to adapt to task changes. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.