Attachment theory has long been recognized as a crucial factor in shaping human development. But what about our closest relatives, the chimpanzees? A four-year study of wild chimpanzees in Taï National Park, Côte d’Ivoire, has revealed that these animals develop different types of attachment to their mothers, similar to humans.

Researchers observed that some young chimpanzees felt secure and relied on their mother’s support when faced with stress or uncertainty. Others had insecure-avoidant attachments, being more independent and less likely to seek comfort from their mothers. However, unlike humans, where 23.5 percent of children show disorganized attachment, and captive orphaned chimpanzees, where 61 percent show this type of attachment, wild chimpanzees showed no signs of disorganized attachment.

This absence of disorganized attachment in wild chimpanzees is significant, as it suggests that this type of attachment may not be an adaptive survival strategy in the face of environmental constraints. In contrast to humans and captive chimpanzees, where disorganized attachment can lead to difficulties with emotional regulation, social integration, and long-term mental health problems, wild chimpanzees seem to have developed a more resilient approach to attachment.

The researchers’ findings raise important questions about modern human parenting practices. Attachment theory is a key concept in psychology that explains how early relationships shape emotional and social development. Secure attachment is associated with confidence and resilience, while insecure and disorganized attachment can be linked to anxiety, stress, or difficulties in relationships.

The study’s authors suggest that the results deepen our understanding of chimpanzees’ social development and show that humans and chimpanzees are not as different as we thought. However, they also make us think: have some modern human institutions or caregiving practices moved away from what is best for infant development?

These findings bring us closer to understanding both chimpanzees and humans, and encourage deeper reflection on how early life experiences shape social and emotional development across species. By identifying attachment patterns in wild chimpanzees, we provide important insights into the roots of human social behavior, bridging psychology, animal behavior, and anthropology.

The human capacity for language has long been considered unique to our species. However, recent studies have challenged this notion by revealing that chimpanzees possess a complex communication system that rivals that of humans in terms of its combinatorial potential. Researchers from the Max Planck Institutes for Evolutionary Anthropology and Cognitive and Brain Sciences, along with colleagues from the Cognitive Neuroscience Center Marc Jeannerod and Neuroscience Research Center in Lyon, France, have recorded thousands of vocalizations from wild chimpanzees in the Taï National Park in Ivory Coast.

Their findings reveal that chimpanzees employ four distinct methods to alter meanings when combining single calls into two-call combinations. These include compositional and non-compositional combinations, analogous to the key linguistic principles in human language. The study also highlights the versatility of these combinations, which are used in a wide range of contexts beyond mere predator alerts.

One of the most significant aspects of this research is that it suggests that chimpanzees’ complex communication system may be more similar to human language than previously thought. This has implications for our understanding of the origins of language and the evolutionary history of humans. The study’s authors propose that the capacity for complex combinatorial capacities was already present in the common ancestor of humans and great apes, challenging the views of the last century that communication in great apes is fixed and linked to emotional states.

This research opens up new avenues for investigation into the evolution of language and highlights the importance of studying the communicative capabilities of our closest living relatives. As Cédric Girard-Buttoz, first author on the study, notes, “Our findings suggest a highly generative vocal communication system, unprecedented in the animal kingdom… This changes the views of the last century which considered communication in the great apes to be fixed and linked to emotional states, and therefore unable to tell us anything about the evolution of language.”

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Music therapy has long been used to help people recover from physical and emotional trauma, but now it may also be a breakthrough in assessing consciousness levels in children who have suffered significant brain injuries. Researchers at Anglia Ruskin University, The Children’s Trust, and Temple University have developed a new tool called MuSICCA (Music therapy Sensory Instrument for Cognition, Consciousness, and Awareness) to help doctors and caregivers determine the level of consciousness in children aged 2-18.

Currently, there is a lack of tools to assess consciousness in children, making it difficult for medical staff to provide proper care. As children grow and develop, their brains undergo significant changes that can make it even harder to determine their level of awareness. MuSICCA aims to change this by using specially selected music to stimulate the patient and encourage them to respond.

A qualified music therapist performs live music stimulation for the patient, manipulating different aspects of the music depending on how they respond. The music therapist observes the child’s behaviors and records these observations against a set of scales, which then produces a diagnosis of the level of consciousness.

In a recent study, researchers invited participants including music therapists, family members of children affected by brain injuries, and healthcare professionals to evaluate MuSICCA. The results were overwhelmingly positive, with 85% of participants strongly agreeing that MuSICCA is an assessment of consciousness and awareness, and 85% also strongly agreeing that it is suitable for use with children and young people.

The lead author of the study, Dr. Jonathan Pool, said: “Children with disorders of consciousness are often almost completely dependent on others to meet their needs. Their therapists, nurses, and caregivers must interpret very subtle behaviors to help them understand their needs. MuSICCA allows us to conduct a rigorous assessment of the patient’s response to various musical stimuli, giving us a picture of their level of consciousness and the strengths and weaknesses of their responses.”

The researchers believe that MuSICCA has the potential to revolutionize the way we assess consciousness in children with brain injuries, providing a more accurate and reliable method for doctors and caregivers to determine the best course of treatment.