What is the purpose of studies of primate cognition, and how should one best study primate cognition? This book answers those questions, and it highlights some of the most recent and compelling evidence regarding the cognitive abilities of primate species. This book describes the goals of studying primate cognition (historically, and in the present), and how such studies teach us about the minds of our closest living relatives, as well as about our own minds. Primate cognitive studies illustrate important aspects of the origins of human cognition, and they provide a measure of connectedness between humans and other primates. Topics range across nearly all those typically seen in a book of human cognition: perception, representation, categorization, memory, decision-making, communication and language, numerical cognition, metacognition, and theory of mind, among others. This book also describes the varied setting in which primates can be studied, and the range of experimental and observational approaches that are typically used. Some authors address questions about the ethics of working with nonhuman primates, as well as the concerns that have emerged about replication and reproducibility of results that are reported in primate cognitive research.

In this chapter, we explore the concept of self-control through a comparative and evolutionary perspective, we discuss how it is measured, and we outline the mechanisms that underlie this capacity (i.e., motivational factors, cognitive control, perception and learning, grit or perseverance, inhibition, as well as choice and commitment). An important concept addressed herein is the distinction between behavioral inhibition and self-control as related yet separate terms. In this endeavor, we briefly review tests of behavioral inhibition (e.g., the detour task, reverse reward contingency task) and self-control (working for more, intertemporal choice, delay of gratification, exchange, tool use, and sequenced travel tasks), outlining how these tasks shed light on the different mechanisms underlying inhibition versus self-control. We also discuss the role of control mechanisms within executive function tasks, such as the Stroop test, and how performance in these tasks is reflective of varying degrees of self-regulation and inhibition.

Many studies have documented the types of memory evident in nonhuman primates.These range in time scales of remembering for seconds to remembering for minutes or even years. An important distinction in human memory is between recognition and recall modes of remembering. Recognition occurs when an external cue aids in memory performance, where the cue evokes the memory. Recall, however, requires a more spontaneous and internally driven memory process. In humans, recall typically is seen when people report experiences verbally, without need of specific cues. This is more difficult to demonstrate in nonhuman animals but can be done if a test can be used that provides no specific, recognizable cues included in the assessment of what is remembered. Some of those tests, as given to different nonhuman primate species, are outlined in this chapter. The resulting data indicate that nonhuman primates do engage in memory recall without the need of external cues, and the implications of this reflect another commonality in the cognitive systems of humans and other animals.