Recherches et engagements
Chartier, T. & Fagot, J.(2022,). Associative symmetry: a divide between humans and nonhumans? Trends in Cognitive Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2022.01.009 Abstract – Anthropocentrism can bias scientific conclusions. As a case study, we challenge the 40-year-old associative symmetry dogma, supposed to cognitively set apart humans from other species. Out of 37 human studies surveyed, only three truly demonstrate […]
Dautriche, I., Buccola, B., Berthet, M. et al. Evidence for compositionality in baboons (Papio papio) through the test case of negation. Sci Rep 12, 19181 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-21143-1 Abstract – Can non-human animals combine abstract representations much like humans do with language? In particular, can they entertain a compositional representation such as ‘not blue’? Across […]
Rey A, Fagot J, Mathy F, Lazartigues L, Tosatto L, Bonafos G, Freyermuth JM, Lavigne F. Learning Higher-Order Transitional Probabilities in Nonhuman Primates. Cogn Sci. 2022 Apr;46(4):e13121. doi: 10.1111/cogs.13121. PMID: 35363923. Abstract – The extraction of cooccurrences between two events, A and B, is a central learning mechanism shared by all species capable of […]
Reboul, A., Mascaro, O., Claidière, N., & Fagot, J. (2022). Are monkeys sensitive to informativeness: An experimental study with baboons (Papio papio). Plos one, 17(7), e0270502. Abstract – Informativeness (defined as reduction of uncertainty) is central in human communication. In the present study, we investigate baboons’ sensitivity to informativeness by manipulating the informativity of a […]
Fatima-ezzahra Ennaji, Pascal Belin, Joël Fagot. Categorization of vocal and nonvocal stimuli in Guinea baboons (Papio papio). American Journal of Primatology, 2022, ff10.1002/ajp.23387ff. ffhal03661496f Abstract – Categorization of vocal sounds apart from other sounds is one of the key abilities in human voice processing, but whether this ability is present in other animals, particularly […]
Tosatto, L., Fagot, J., Nemeth, D., & Rey, A. (2022). The evolution of chunks in sequence learning. Cognitive Science, 46(4), e13124. Abstract – Chunking mechanisms are central to several cognitive processes and notably to the acquisition of visuo‐motor sequences. Individuals segment sequences into chunks of items to perform visuo‐motor tasks more fluidly, rapidly, and accurately. […]
Sablé-Meyer, M., Fagot, J., Caparos, S., van Kerkoerle, , T., Amalric, M. & Dehaene, S. (2021). Sensitivity to geometric shape regularity in humans and baboons: A putative signature of human singularity. PNAS April 20, 2021 118 (16) e20231231183 Abstract – Determining the cognitive differences between human and nonhuman primates is a central goal of […]
Chunking and associative learning in non-human Primates. Laure Tosatto, Joel Fagot, Dezso Nemeth, and Arnaud Rey. Proceedings of the Evolang Conference, Bruxelles, 2020 This paper describes the learning of visuo-motor sequences in baboons. Baboons firstly learn small chunks that were later concatenated into larger chunks leading to increasingly compressed forms of information
Malassis, R., Dehaene, S. & Fagot, J. Baboons (Papio papio) Process a Context-Free but Not a Context-Sensitive Grammar. Sci Rep 10, 7381 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64244-53 Abstract – Language processing involves the ability to master supra-regular grammars, that go beyond the level of complexity of regular grammars. This ability has been hypothesized to be a uniquely […]
Rational after all: changes in probability matching behaviour across time in humans and monkeys Carmen Saldana, Nicolas claidière, Joel Fagot, Kenny Smith. Proceedings of the Evolang Conference, Bruxelles,2020 Here we present a series of experiments designed to directly compare probability matching behaviour across time in adult humans and Guinea baboons
Malassis, R. & Fagot,. (2021). Extraction of structural regularities by baboons adjacent and nonadjacent repetition patterns differ in learnability. Journal of Comparative Psychology, Vol. 135, No. 1, 51– 63. Abstract – Several animal species can discriminate between different sequential patterns based on repetitions of items (eg, ABB vs. ABA), and generalize their performance to sequences […]
Pope, S.M., Fagot, J., Meguerditchian, A., Watzek, J., Lew-Levy, S., Autrey, M.M., & Hopkins, W.D. (2019). Optional Switch cognitive flexibility in primates: Chimpanzees’ (Pan trolodytes) intermediate susceptibility to cognitive set. Journal of Comparative Psychology. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/com000 Abstract – Within human problem-solving, the propensity to use a familiar approach, rather than switch to […]
Chemla, Dautriche, Buccola & Fagot (2019). Constraints on the lexicons of human languages have cognitive roots present in baboons (Papio papio). PNAS. ww.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.19070231163 Abstract – Universals in language are hard to come by, yet one candidate is that words across the lexicons of the world’s languages are, by and large, connected: When a word […]
Pope, S.M., Fagot, J., Meguerditchian, A., Watzek, J., Lew-Levy, S., Audrey, M.M., & Hopkins, W.D. (2019). Switch cognitive flexibility in primates: Chimpanzes (Pan troglodytes) intermediate susceptibility to cognitive set. Journal of Comparative Psychology Abstract – Within human problem-solving, the propensity to use a familiar approach, rather than switch to a more efficient alternative is […]
Malassis, R., Rey, A. & Fagot, J. (2018). Non-adjacent dependencies processing in human and non-human primates. Cognitive Science. First published: 20 May 2018, https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12617 Abstract – Human and non-human primates share the ability to extract adjacent dependencies and, under certain conditions, non-adjacent dependencies (i.e., predictive relationships between elements that are separated by one or […]