UEL Psychology Seminar Series
Date: 26th November 2014
Time: 12:00-13:00
Venue: Arthur Edwards Building, Room VR Lab
Dr. Christel Schneider
Lecturer, School of Psychology, University of East London
Title:
The Development of Gestural Communication in Non-Human Great Apes
Abstract:
Despite the increasing body of research on gestural communication in our closest living relatives, the non-human great apes, we still know little about when and how apes acquire their gestures. In this longitudinal project I observed captive bonobo, chimpanzee, gorilla and orangutan mother-infant dyads (n= 25) in order to study onset ages and early gestural activity. I found orangutans differed in several gestural characteristics to those of bonobos, chimpanzees and gorillas; most importantly, they showed the latest gestural onset age. Moreover, when looking at how bonobo and chimpanzee infants learn their gestures, the mother’s role appeared to be negligible; infants were more likely to share gestural repertoires with peers than they were with their own mothers. I discuss how biological, socio-environmental and life history factors are inextricably linked in the story of when and how gestures appear in non-human great apes. I will finish with a brief outline of my current research activity; the first systematic comparative analysis of mother-infant engagement processes in humans, bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans.
Brief Biography:
Christel is a Comparative Developmental Psychologist who joined the School of Psychology as a Lecturer in 2013. Prior to coming to UEL, she investigated the socio-cognitive abilities of our closest living relatives, and completed her doctorate on the development of gestural communication and early social relationships in non-human great apes, at the Free University Berlin and the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig (Germany).
Session Chair:
Professor Derek Moore
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