International Journal of Comparative Psychology

Nine young

children and five tufted capuchin monkeys {Cebus apella) were tested on tasks involving a search for an object hidden within a set of plastic cups. As viewed, the sequences of displacements enabled subjects to eliminate some of the possible locations where the object lay hidden, thereby constraining the search space. Both species deployed principled modes of search, in contrast to a random selection strategy. However, no subject from either group proved able to fully constrain the search on the basis of all of the information conveyed over the full menu of tasks. The reasons for incomplete success are as yet unclear, however failures may be due as much to social limitations as to other forms of error. On that basis we conclude that new paradigms are necessary, designed specifically to evaluate competencies for socially based knowledge on the one hand and self-directed search on the other.