Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39591401›Full record

ArticlePLoS biology2024

Humans and great apes visually track event roles in similar ways.

Vanessa A D Wilson, Sebastian Sauppe, Sarah Brocard, Erik Ringen, Moritz M Daum, Stephanie Wermelinger, Nianlong Gu, Caroline Andrews, Arrate Isasi-Isasmendi, Balthasar Bickel and 1 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in PLoS biology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Fast mapping in hominids.Animal cognition · 2025
    Article
  4. Review
  5. Spontaneous Encoding of Event Roles in Hominids.Open mind : discoveries in cognitive science · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Vanessa A D WilsonDepartment of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology; University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0001-7253-6013
Sebastian SauppeCenter for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Sarah BrocardDepartment of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology; University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland.
Erik RingenDepartment of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Moritz M DaumCenter for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Stephanie WermelingerDepartment of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Nianlong GuCenter for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Caroline AndrewsDepartment of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Arrate Isasi-IsasmendiDepartment of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Balthasar BickelDepartment of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Klaus ZuberbühlerDepartment of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology; University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland.

Funding

Swiss National Science Foundation 310030_185324
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Human language relies on a rich cognitive machinery, partially shared with other animals. One key mechanism, however, decomposing events into causally linked agent-patient roles, has remained elusive with no known animal equivalent. In humans, agent-patient relations in event cognition drive how languages are processed neurally and expressions structured syntactically. We compared visual event tracking between humans and great apes, using stimuli that would elicit causal processing in humans. After accounting for attention to background information, we found similar gaze patterns to agent-patient relations in all species, mostly alternating attention to agents and patients, presumably in order to learn the nature of the event, and occasionally privileging agents under specific conditions. Six-month-old infants, in contrast, did not follow agent-patient relations and attended mostly to background information. These findings raise the possibility that event role tracking, a cognitive foundation of syntax, has evolved long before language but requires time and experience to become ontogenetically available.

Indexed as

AttentionCognitionLanguageAdultAnimalsEye MovementsFemaleGorilla gorillaHominidaeHumansInfantMalePan paniscusPan troglodytesVisual Perception

Identifiers

PMID39591401
PMCPMC11593759

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.