Human behaviour and cognition are influenced by previous experience and developmental inputs. Whilst this has been well documented in human psychology literature, the extent to which these factors affect cognition and behaviour of great apes remains unclear. This issue is compounded by the centralisation of  captive ape research within a small number of institutions, which house individuals who are tested regularly and who collect, over the years, a vast and unique research history. Consequently, research samples drawn form these  chimpanzees may not be characteristic of the whole species, which poses a critical problem for making generalised claims at the species-level, or for drawing comparisons with human cogntion. 

The Ape Research Index (ARI) project was introduced to quantify and test the effects of research participation on captive chimpanzee cognition. We are currently working on creating a database that includes details of experiments conducted with captive chimpanzees world-wide, and creating a test battery to estimate the effects of research experiences on chimpanzee cognition.