Abstract

         As people who interpret the physical world using the five primary senses available to us, we constantly use comparable social relations to distinguish ourselves from “others,” using words like “animal” not only as a means of distinguishing ourselves from non-humans but also as a derogatory term associating “animal” with a lower state of living. However, studies have proven that numerous species of whales and dolphins, like humans, can create and enjoy music due to their brains’ advanced temporal structures, thereby implicating more complex social structures within those species regarding cognition. This is also evident in Great Ape species, such as chimpanzees and orangutans, both of which have exhibited “mental health crises” and the capacity for language. The results of the studies involving these species have given scientists reason to believe that much of the similarities between them and ourselves implies that this may be the result of our shared biology with them. In a study involving the Beluga whale, Delphinapterus leucas, and three bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, tests were implemented to observe a hypothesized ability to perceiv\e quantity (and subsequently choose the greater of two amounts), and if their performance matched predictions from the object file versus analog accumulator models. As a result, all participants chose the larger of the two sets of amounts above chance levels in all scenarios, which did not meet the accumulator model’s predictions. Some keywords we will discuss are the following: Altruism, which is the practice of providing help to benefit others with no expectations for personal reward. The Allan factor measures stability frequency in oscillations and amplification (Kello et al.).

…

         Many experiments have unveiled the numerous parallels and distinctions between humans and animals. This was determined in terms of communication, psychology, and social interactions. Species progressively evolve to become suited to their respective niches via natural selection. It appears that many behavioral characteristics that were once thought to be unique to humans are more common than we think. This is especially apparent in Great Ape species, other land and marine mammals, and even birds. However, humans have advanced to a point where they can survive and support themselves in various ways wildlife is not privy to.

Methods

Cognition of Different Species of the Cetacean Family

         Whales and dolphins are widely recognized for their complex forms of intelligence. Scientists studied a female beluga whale (subject Y) and two female bottlenose dolphins (S and MA) ㅡ both raised in captivity ㅡ to compare their judgments and perceptions of quantity. In Condition 1, researchers placed two transparent plastic boxes below the surface of the pool water with different quantities of fish inside. 

Table 1 (Abramson et al). Suggests that the subjects were

overall successful in choosing the larger quantity.            

         These were used to test the cetaceans visually. In Condition 2, two identical opaque black boxes covered with polyethylene, which blocks transparency but allows sound transmission, were placed in similar conditions to test echoically. The number of fish in the boxes varied throughout the day, and all subjects were rewarded if they chose the box containing more fish. Before these experiments were conducted, the subjects had to pass pretests that assessed whether these animals were willing to participate, rewarding them through standard classical conditioning. However, “…when presenting new quantities, every choice, whether correct or incorrect, [the subjects were] rewarded for guarding against associative learning…” (Abramson et al.). 

Evidence for midlife crises in great apes consistent with the human well-being

         Researchers conduct various analyses about a perceived U-shaped trend in human and Great Ape’s physical and mental well-being occurring throughout a lifetime. Human well-being is at its highest during the early and late stages of life, except, of course, in the years leading up to death, but it is around the midlife period that physical and mental well-being is at its lowest. The strengths of this study lie in how the researchers account for many covariates Figure 1 (Weiss et al). Tested well-being of, with the aforementioned U-shaped trend emerging with or without the implementation of parametric methods. Multiple regression analyses based on a biomarker, brain-science, genetic and spatial data were implemented. However, the U-shaped trend in human society was found to be almost absent until adjustments were made to account for a multitude of covariates, based on results obtained from a four-item nonhuman primates well-being questionnaire—based on human subjective well-being measures—assessing the degree of enjoyment exhibited in social interactions as well as the degree to which a subject expressed a positive versus a negative attitude or mood, how successful the subject was in achieving its goals, and how happy the raters would be if they were the subjects. Age effects in human study groups were adjusted based on education, income, marital status, location, and sex, whilst adjustments to ape well-being were more conservative, occurring solely based on sex. Not only do the above adjustments gauge an understanding of the factors playing into human and ape well-being, but they also avoid the multiple-comparisons issue and allow for (as well as validate) the hypothesis of a quadratic relationship between age and well-being (Weiss et al.).

Figure 1 (Weiss et al). Tested well-being

of great apes over their lifespan

Does sympathy motivate prosocial behavior in great apes?

         Many studies have provided the scientific community evidence of prosocial behavior among great apes, so the research question proposed in this study is whether great apes are more likely to help a conspecific more after a human experimenter steals the conspecific’s food as opposed to in a condition where there was no harm to the conspecific or its property (Liebal). That said, this study conducts a pre-test in which the subjects—Western Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), Pygmy Chimpanzee (Pan paniscus), Common Chimpanzee (Pan troglodyte), and Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus)—use a stick to acquire food beyond their reach in two consecutive sessions. After, each ape that successfully passed the pre-test was randomly assigned to the following roles: the victim (any ape the experimenter does not help), which interacts with the human experimenter (E), and/or as the helper, which interacts with the victim (supporting information, Table S1). They were placed in two adjacent rooms separated by mesh, where the victim sat opposite the human experimenter; meanwhile, the helper occupied the opposite room. Interactions between E and the victim, between the victim and the helper, and solely the helper’s actions were recorded by three cameras (one per interaction). 

Hierarchical Temporal Structure in Music, Speech and Animal Vocalizations: Jazz Is Like a Conversation, Humpbacks Sing Like Hermit Thrushes.

         Humans communicate by talking, singing, and playing music; several bird and whale species will sing, as well, to communicate and can resemble human speech, song, and music. These sounds have a hierarchical structure, with syllables and notes within words (Kello et al.). In this study, over 200 separate recordings from more than 16 different categories of signals were analyzed and compared, including recordings of speech in various settings and languages, musical compositions, and musical performances. The method recognizes temporal events of sound amplitude and uses Allan factor (AF) variation to quantify event clustering over various durations (Kello et al.). 

Does Altruism Imply Cognitive Ability?

         Through kin selection, sterile organisms would help their non-sterile relatives raise their young through what is known as kin selection.  In the animal kingdom, this form of babysitting ensures the survival of the species, even if most of the species are non-reproductive.  For humans and as described through novels of the 19th century, poor members were labeled the ‘sterile caste’ because they lived to take care of the wealthy caste’s children and would do so for the entirety of their lives.  It is more likely that a human would selflessly take care of another person’s child if they belonged to a relative or a close friend in today’s society. There are other species with biology not shared with humans, yet that can form relationships with non-kin individuals within their colony. Vampire bats form relationships with those non-kin members due to passing by each other and interacting enough times.  It is also likely that because of this association, vampire bats will help out starving others by regurgitating their food into the other’s mouth (Reznikova). 

Results

         The beluga whale and bottlenose dolphins experiment yielded results consistent with relative quantitative judgment. However, there is insufficient evidence to deduce numeral perception. Overall, subjects chose larger quantities in both conditions without weighing their options. It also suggests relative quantity judgments using echolocation within the beluga whale species, which has never before been tested (Abramson et al.). The results presented in Table 1 suggest that marine animals’ performance varied based on echolocation and visual inputs. 

         Results across all groups for the Weiss article were consistent, implying that this relationship between age and well-being is not uniquely human and subsequently suggesting that while various aspects of human society may influence these trends, their origins may lie in the biology which is shared between humans and the Great Apes (Weiss et al.).

         Clustered event series from the Kello article resulted from various vocalizations and musical performances. In four example segments of recordings, one from each of the four primary categories, this clustering was often apparent. AF analysis produced a clustering function A(T) for each recording. The means of these functions for each subcategory are shown on logarithmic coordinates in the four panels of figure 3. All complex signals, A(T), increase with time frame, indicating a generic trait of nested clustering. Whether it came from infant-directed speech or synthetic speech, prosodic variation showed the same influence on nested clustering. Whether interactions were between whales, speakers, or musicians, interaction dynamics exhibited the same influence on nested clustering. Further research is needed to see if AF functions reflect other aspects of behavioral and social factors that underlie complex vocalizations and musical performances that were not investigated here (Kello et al.).  

         The results of the Liebal article indicate that concerning the occurrence of prosocial behaviors, only orangutans help others when help is needed, contrasting previous findings on chimpanzees. However, except for one population of orangutans that helped significantly more after a conspecific was harmed than when no harm occurred, prosocial behaviour in great apes was not motivated by concern for others, offering              Figure 2 (Kello et al). Six different graphs exhibiting the  

reason to deduce that empathy and sympathy                     Allan factor for varying audio sources.

have biological origins (Liebal). For these reasons, Reznikova concludes that there must be a level of ‘basic cognition’ for animal species to recollect the interactions between the species and observe those features to that of their kin, whether through a sense of sight or smell (Reznikova).

Discussion

         As for the experiments conducted for the Cetacean family, one limitation was that the scientists decided to put holes in the box that the fish were being presented in. It begs whether these marine animals used their sense of smell to detect more significant quantities. If so, while that may be a complication, the results still indicate that relatively more significant quantities are being chosen based on greater olfactory stimuli concentrations? 

         The Reznikova article provided many examples of species with different forms of altruism they express; However, some might argue that it would be better to utilize historical sources instead of 19th-century novels, like Jane Eyre’s, which could lend themselves to fallibility. In the studies of Great Apes, it has been proven that empathy and sympathy are not solely human but present in other species’ cultures. They could also explain the U-shaped trends in physical and mental well-being among humans and nonhuman primates, for it is the similarities in brain structure and overall physiology (which is often proposed as the reason for humanity’s evolutionary prowess) which give reason to believe that primates have the potential for empathy and sympathy, which ultimately drive acts of altruism among birds, marine mammals, and great apes. In the prosocial behavior experiment, spatial arrangements made it nearly impossible to record the helper’s actions. However, results indicate that stick transfers were, more often than not, the result of active transfer rather than passive, suggesting that prosocial behavior is, in many cases, the result of conditions that call upon interdependence for survival, suggesting an evolutionary favorability for prosocial behavior and the resulting altruism in observed by various species worldwide. 

         When it comes down to it, humankind’s concept of personhood is based solely on its insatiable dependence on “otherness,” which allows humanity to develop complex social relations based on observable differences both between nonhuman species and humans themselves, ranging from the great apes to marine life to vampire bats. Animals worldwide, regardless of exposure to humans, show human-like traits. “Human” traits are universal, granting animals a level of personhood that most typically fail to attribute to non-human animals. 

Works Cited

Abramson, José Z., et al. “Relative Quantity Judgments in the Beluga Whale (Delphinapterus Leucas) and the Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus).” Behavioural Processes, vol. 96, 2013, pp. 11–19., doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2013.02.006. 

Kello, Christopher T., et al. “Hierarchical Temporal Structure in Music, Speech and Animal Vocalizations: Jazz Is like a Conversation, Humpbacks Sing like Hermit Thrushes.” Journal of The Royal Society Interface, vol. 14, no. 135, 2017, doi:10.1098/rsif.2017.0231. 

Liebal, Katja, et al. “Does Sympathy Motivate Prosocial Behaviour in Great Apes?” PLOS ONE, vol. 9, no. 1, 2014, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0084299. 

Reznikova, Zhanna. “Evolutionary and Behavioural Aspects of Altruism in Animal Communities: Is There Room for Intelligence?” Evolution, 2011, pp. 122–161., https://www.sociostudies.org/almanac/articles/files/evolution_1/122-161.pdf. Weiss, Alexander, et al. “Evidence for a Midlife Crisis in Great Apes Consistent with the U-Shape in Human Well-Being.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 109, no. 49, 4 Dec. 2012, doi:10.1073/pnas.1212592109.

Personhood: A Concept of the World, Not Humans (Revised Research Paper)

December 22, 2021 / Leave a comment / Edit

Abstract

        As people who interpret the physical world using the five primary senses available to us, we constantly use comparable social relations to distinguish ourselves from “others,” using words like “animal” not only as a means of distinguishing ourselves from non-humans but also as a derogatory term associating “animal” with a lower state of living. However, studies have proven that numerous species of whales and dolphins, like humans, can create and enjoy music due to their brains’ advanced temporal structures, thereby implicating more complex social structures within those species regarding cognition. This is also evident in Great Ape species, such as chimpanzees and orangutans, both of which have exhibited “mental health crises” and the capacity for language. The results of the studies involving these species have given scientists reason to believe that much of the similarities between them and ourselves implies that this may be the result of our shared biology with them. In a study involving the Beluga whale, Delphinapterus leucas, and three bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, tests were implemented to observe a hypothesized ability to perceiv\e quantity (and subsequently choose the greater of two amounts), and if their performance matched predictions from the object file versus analog accumulator models. As a result, all participants chose the larger of the two sets of amounts above chance levels in all scenarios, which did not meet the accumulator model’s predictions. Some keywords we will discuss are the following: Altruism, which is the practice of providing help to benefit others with no expectations for personal reward. The Allan factor measures stability frequency in oscillations and amplification (Kello et al.).

         Many experiments have unveiled the numerous parallels and distinctions between humans and animals. This was determined in terms of communication, psychology, and social interactions. Species progressively evolve to become suited to their respective niches via natural selection. It appears that many behavioral characteristics that were once thought to be unique to humans are more common than we think. This is especially apparent in Great Ape species, other land and marine mammals, and even birds. However, humans have advanced to a point where they can survive and support themselves in various ways wildlife is not privy to.

Methods

Cognition of Different Species of the Cetacean Family

        Whales and dolphins are widely recognized for their complex forms of intelligence. Scientists studied a female beluga whale (subject Y) and two female bottlenose dolphins (S and MA) ㅡ both raised in captivity ㅡ to compare their judgments and perceptions of quantity. In Condition 1, researchers placed two transparent plastic boxes below the surface of the pool water with different quantities of fish inside. 

Table 1 (Abramson et al). Suggests that the subjects were overall  successful in choosing the larger quantity.            

        These were used to test the cetaceans visually. In Condition 2, two identical opaque black boxes covered with polyethylene, which blocks transparency but allows sound transmission, were placed in similar conditions to test echoically. The number of fish in the boxes varied throughout the day, and all subjects were rewarded if they chose the box containing more fish. Before these experiments were conducted, the subjects had to pass pretests that assessed whether these animals were willing to participate, rewarding them through standard classical conditioning. However, “…when presenting new quantities, every choice, whether correct or incorrect, [the subjects were] rewarded for guarding against associative learning…” (Abramson et al.). 

Evidence for midlife crises in great apes consistent with the human well-being

        Researchers conduct various analyses about a perceived U-shaped trend in human and Great Ape’s physical and mental well-being occurring throughout a lifetime. Human well-being is at its highest during the early and late stages of life, except, of course, in the years leading up to death, but it is around the midlife period that physical and mental well-being is at its lowest. The strengths of this study lie in how the researchers account for many covariates Figure 1 (Weiss et al). Tested well-being of, with the aforementioned U-shaped trend emerging with or without the implementation of parametric methods. Multiple regression analyses based on a biomarker, brain-science, genetic and spatial data were implemented. However, the U-shaped trend in human society was found to be almost absent until adjustments were made to account for a multitude of covariates, based on results obtained from a four-item nonhuman primates well-being questionnaire—based on human subjective well-being measures—assessing the degree of enjoyment exhibited in social interactions as well as the degree to which a subject expressed a positive versus a negative attitude or mood, how successful the subject was in achieving its goals, and how happy the raters would be if they were the subjects. Age effects in human study groups were adjusted based on education, income, marital status, location, and sex, whilst adjustments to ape well-being were more conservative, occurring solely based on sex. Not only do the above adjustments gauge an understanding of the factors playing into human and ape well-being, but they also avoid the multiple-comparisons issue and allow for (as well as validate) the hypothesis of a quadratic relationship between age and well-being (Weiss et al.).

Does sympathy motivate prosocial behavior in great apes?

       Many studies have provided the scientific community evidence of prosocial behavior among great apes, so the research question proposed in this study is whether great apes are more likely to help a conspecific more after a human experimenter steals the conspecific’s food as opposed to in a condition where there was no harm to the conspecific or its property (Liebal). That said, this study conducts a pre-test in which the subjects—Western Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), Pygmy Chimpanzee (Pan paniscus), Common Chimpanzee (Pan troglodyte), and Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus)—use a stick to acquire food beyond their reach in two consecutive sessions. After, each ape that successfully passed the pre-test was randomly assigned to the following roles: the victim (any ape the experimenter does not help), which interacts with the human experimenter (E), and/or as the helper, which interacts with the victim (supporting information, Table S1). They were placed in two adjacent rooms separated by mesh, where the victim sat opposite the human experimenter; meanwhile, the helper occupied the opposite room. Interactions between E and the victim, between the victim and the helper, and solely the helper’s actions were recorded by three cameras (one per interaction). 

Hierarchical Temporal Structure in Music, Speech and Animal Vocalizations: Jazz Is Like a Conversation, Humpbacks Sing Like Hermit Thrushes.

       Humans communicate by talking, singing, and playing music; several bird and whale species will sing, as well, to communicate and can resemble human speech, song, and music. These sounds have a hierarchical structure, with syllables and notes within words (Kello et al.). In this study, over 200 separate recordings from more than 16 different categories of signals were analyzed and compared, including recordings of speech in various settings and languages, musical compositions, and musical performances. The method recognizes temporal events of sound amplitude and uses Allan factor (AF) variation to quantify event clustering over various durations (Kello et al.). 

Does Altruism Imply Cognitive Ability?

       Through kin selection, sterile organisms would help their non-sterile relatives raise their young through what is known as kin selection.  In the animal kingdom, this form of babysitting ensures the survival of the species, even if most of the species are non-reproductive.  For humans and as described through novels of the 19th century, poor members were labeled the ‘sterile caste’ because they lived to take care of the wealthy caste’s children and would do so for the entirety of their lives.  It is more likely that a human would selflessly take care of another person’s child if they belonged to a relative or a close friend in today’s society. There are other species with biology not shared with humans, yet that can form relationships with non-kin individuals within their colony. Vampire bats form relationships with those non-kin members due to passing by each other and interacting enough times.  It is also likely that because of this association, vampire bats will help out starving others by regurgitating their food into the other’s mouth (Reznikova). 

Results

       The beluga whale and bottlenose dolphins experiment yielded results consistent with relative quantitative judgment. However, there is insufficient evidence to deduce numeral perception. Overall, subjects chose larger quantities in both conditions without weighing their options. It also suggests relative quantity judgments using echolocation within the beluga whale species, which has never before been tested (Abramson et al.). The results presented in Table 1 suggest that marine animals’ performance varied based on echolocation and visual inputs. 

       Results across all groups for the Weiss article were consistent, implying that this relationship between age and well-being is not uniquely human and subsequently suggesting that while various aspects of human society may influence these trends, their origins may lie in the biology which is shared between humans and the Great Apes (Weiss et al.).

       Clustered event series from the Kello article resulted from various vocalizations and musical performances. In four example segments of recordings, one from each of the four primary categories, this clustering was often apparent. AF analysis produced a clustering function A(T) for each recording. The means of these functions for each subcategory are shown on logarithmic coordinates in the four panels of figure 3. All complex signals, A(T), increase with time frame, indicating a generic trait of nested clustering. Whether it came from infant-directed speech or synthetic speech, prosodic variation showed the same influence on nested clustering. Whether interactions were between whales, speakers, or musicians, interaction dynamics exhibited the same influence on nested clustering. Further research is needed to see if AF functions reflect other aspects of behavioral and social factors that underlie complex vocalizations and musical performances that were not investigated here (Kello et al.).  

       The results of the Liebal article indicate that concerning the occurrence of prosocial behaviors, only orangutans help others when help is needed, contrasting previous findings on chimpanzees. However, except for one population of orangutans that helped significantly more after a conspecific was harmed than when no harm occurred, prosocial behavior in great apes was not motivated by concern for others, offering reason to deduce that empathy and sympathy have biological origins (Liebal). have biological origins (Liebal). For these reasons, Reznikova concludes that there must be a level of ‘basic cognition’ for animal species to recollect the interactions between the species and observe those features to that of their kin, whether through a sense of sight or smell (Reznikova).

Figure 2 (Kello et al). Six different graphs exhibiting the Allan factor for varying audio sources.

Discussion

      As for the experiments conducted for the Cetacean family, one limitation was that the scientists decided to put holes in the box that the fish were being presented in. It begs whether these marine animals used their sense of smell to detect more significant quantities. If so, while that may be a complication, the results still indicate that relatively more significant quantities are being chosen based on greater olfactory stimuli concentrations? 

      The Reznikova article provided many examples of species with different forms of altruism they express; However, some might argue that it would be better to utilize historical sources instead of 19th-century novels, like Jane Eyre’s, which could lend themselves to fallibility. In the studies of Great Apes, it has been proven that empathy and sympathy are not solely human but present in other species’ cultures. They could also explain the U-shaped trends in physical and mental well-being among humans and nonhuman primates, for it is the similarities in brain structure and overall physiology (which is often proposed as the reason for humanity’s evolutionary prowess) which give reason to believe that primates have the potential for empathy and sympathy, which ultimately drive acts of altruism among birds, marine mammals, and great apes. In the prosocial behavior experiment, spatial arrangements made it nearly impossible to record the helper’s actions. However, results indicate that stick transfers were, more often than not, the result of active transfer rather than passive, suggesting that prosocial behavior is, in many cases, the result of conditions that call upon interdependence for survival, suggesting an evolutionary favorability for prosocial behavior and the resulting altruism in observed by various species worldwide. 

      When it comes down to it, humankind’s concept of personhood is based solely on its insatiable dependence on “otherness,” which allows humanity to develop complex social relations based on observable differences both between nonhuman species and humans themselves, ranging from the great apes to marine life to vampire bats. Animals worldwide, regardless of exposure to humans, show human-like traits. “Human” traits are universal, granting animals a level of personhood that most typically fail to attribute to non-human animals. 

Works Cited

Abramson, José Z., et al. “Relative Quantity Judgments in the Beluga Whale (Delphinapterus Leucas) and the Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus).” Behavioural Processes, vol. 96, 2013, pp. 11–19., doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2013.02.006. 

Kello, Christopher T., et al. “Hierarchical Temporal Structure in Music, Speech and Animal Vocalizations: Jazz Is like a Conversation, Humpbacks Sing like Hermit Thrushes.” Journal of The Royal Society Interface, vol. 14, no. 135, 2017, doi:10.1098/rsif.2017.0231. 

Liebal, Katja, et al. “Does Sympathy Motivate Prosocial Behaviour in Great Apes?” PLOS ONE, vol. 9, no. 1, 2014, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0084299. 

Reznikova, Zhanna. “Evolutionary and Behavioural Aspects of Altruism in Animal Communities: Is There Room for Intelligence?” Evolution, 2011, pp. 122–161., https://www.sociostudies.org/almanac/articles/files/evolution_1/122-161.pdf. Weiss, Alexander, et al. “Evidence for a Midlife Crisis in Great Apes Consistent with the U-Shape in Human Well-Being.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 109, no. 49, 4 Dec. 2012, doi:10.1073/pnas.1212592109.