Previous studies have shown chimps working together in strictly alternating turn-taking scenarios. However, these results are the first to demonstrate that chimpanzees can cope with more complex permutations of turn-taking, with no external cues to help time their behaviour.

The research, published in the journal Scientific Reports, gives important insights into the evolution of turn-taking, which underlies a range of social interactions, including communication and language.

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“Our research examined the abilities of our closest evolutionary relatives, chimpanzees, to coordinate their behavior while completing a computerized puzzle in stages. We showed that extended bouts of turn-taking emerged spontaneously in the subjects, enabling them to solve the complex coordination problem effectively…

Besides turn-taking, our task may also provide insights into abilities for cognitive perspective-taking — in other words, the capacity to improve coordination by mentally putting yourself in someone else’s place. Brain studies have shown that this is a skill that musicians use while performing duets that require them to take turns. Whether our chimpanzee subjects made use of such perspective-taking capacities during solving the numerical turn-taking task is an interesting open question for future research.”

-Dr. Dora Biro, researcher, study co-author