On the proximate links between object play and tool use in the context of stone handling behavior in Balinese long-tailed macaques

dc.contributor.authorCenni, Camilla
dc.contributor.authorUniversity of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science
dc.contributor.supervisorLeca, Jean-Baptiste
dc.date.accessioned2022-11-21T20:49:22Z
dc.date.available2022-11-21T20:49:22Z
dc.date.issued2022
dc.degree.levelPh.Den_US
dc.description.abstractSeveral theories on the origins and evolution of instrumental object-assisted actions hold that object play facilitates tool use, through enhanced perception of an object’s properties and potential for manipulation. However, the data-based findings actually connecting these activities are conflicting. In this thesis, I explored the links between object play and tool use at a proximate level, that is by looking at their mechanisms and structural differences. Using a combination of observational and experimental methods, I studied a culturally maintained form of object play named stone handling (SH) performed by Balinese long-tailed macaques. First, I assessed inter-individual variation and intra-individual consistency in the expression of SH behavior, and whether the physical properties of the objects being manipulated (i.e., stone size) affected an individual’s expression of SH activity. Second, I tested whether SH in this population has the exaptive potential to turn into tool use, spontaneously in the sexual domain, as a form of self-directed tool-assisted masturbation, and via experimental induction in the foraging domain, as extractive tool-assisted foraging techniques to open novel food-baited puzzle boxes. Overall, my findings demonstrate that, due to the intrinsic characteristics of play behavior, such as its combinatorial flexibility, SH may be exapted into tool use under certain motivational domains, and qualitative and quantitative features of playful object manipulation, that is the types and duration of different actions, covary with the expression of instrumental object-assisted solutions. Future investigations aiming to explore the relationship between object play and tool use should focus on structural components of these two activities.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipSchool of Graduate Studies at the University of Lethbridge. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC, Discovery Grants: 2015-06034, to Jean-Baptiste Leca).en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10133/6385
dc.language.isoen_CAen_US
dc.proquest.subject0384en_US
dc.proquest.subject0472en_US
dc.proquestyesYesen_US
dc.publisherLethbridge, Alta : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Psychologyen_US
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Psychologyen_US
dc.publisher.facultyArts and Scienceen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesThesis (University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science)en_US
dc.subjectObject playen_US
dc.subjectTool useen_US
dc.subjectStone handling behavioren_US
dc.subjectLong-tailed macaquesen_US
dc.subjectMacaca fascicularisen_US
dc.subjectObject manipulationen_US
dc.subjectAffordance learningen_US
dc.subjectNon-human primatesen_US
dc.subject.lcshTool use in animals
dc.subject.lcshKra--Behavior
dc.subject.lcshMacaques--Behavior
dc.subject.lcshDissertations, Academic
dc.titleOn the proximate links between object play and tool use in the context of stone handling behavior in Balinese long-tailed macaquesen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
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