ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author explores the content of primate representation. He explains about the representations of nonlinguistic creatures by creating situations that either violate certain core principles from within the physical or psychological domain, or are consistent with them. The habituation procedure used in these experiments creates an anomalous situation, a violation of the presumed expectation formed by listeners. Every time the call is played back, the putative referent or expected context is missing: intergroup calls without competitors, and food calls without food. The classic theory of mind test is Wimmer and Perner’s false belief procedure. Although this task typically requires language, a recent set of studies by Clements and Perner suggest another route into the child’s knowledge. In addition to differences in the interpretation of looking-time data are differences between studies using looking time as opposed to some other response assay, typically one involving a motor response such as reaching.
