Selected Publications
See HERE for a full list of publications; and see HERE for our group blog where we discuss our latest papers and other relevant studies in the field
A few recent publications:
Farrar, B. G., Krupenye, C., Motes-Rodrigo, A., Tennie, C., Fischer, J., Altschul, D. M. & Ostojic, L. (2022) Replication and Reproducibility in Primate Cognition Research. In: Primate Cognitive Studies (eds. M. J. Beran & B. Schwartz). Cambridge University Press. A preprint can be found here.
Buskell, A., & Tennie, C. (in press). Mere recurrence and cumulative culture at the margins. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.
Li, L., Reeves, J. S., Lin, S. C., Tennie, C., & McPherron, S. P. (2022). Quantifying knapping actions: a method for measuring the angle of blow on flakes. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 14, 1-16.
Masi, S., Pouydebat, E., San-Galli, A., Meulman, E., Breuer, T., Reeves, J., & Tennie, C. (2022). Free hand hitting of stone-like objects in wild gorillas. Scientific Reports, 12, 1-10.
Motes-Rodrigo, A., McPherron, S. P., Archer, W., Hernandez-Aguilar, R. A., & Tennie, C. (2022). Experimental investigation of orangutans’ lithic percussive and sharp stone tool behaviours. PloS ONE, 17, e0263343.
Snyder, W. D., Reeves, J. S., & Tennie, C. (2022). Early knapping techniques do not necessitate cultural transmission. Science Advances, 8, eabo2894.
Bandini, E., Grossmann, J., Funk, M., Albiach-Serrano, A., Tennie, C. (2021) Naïve orangutans (Pongo abelii and Pongo pygmaeus) individually acquire nut-cracking using hammer tool. American Journal of Primatology. Funded by ERC: C Tennie. See also these two twitter threads - this one focused on the methods and results, and this one focused on the broader implications.
Bandini, E., Motes-Rodrigo, A., Archer, W., Minchin, T., Axelsen, H., Hernandez-Aguilar, R. A., McPherron, S.P., & Tennie, C. (2021). Naïve, unenculturated chimpanzees fail to make and use flaked stone tools. Open Research Europe, 1, 20. See also this and this twitter thread.
Motes-Rodrigo, A. & Tennie, C. (2021). The method of local restriction: in search of great ape culture-dependent forms. Biological Reviews. Online first. See also two twitter threads - this one focused on the results, and this one focused on the method.
Motes-Rodrigo, A., Mundry, R., Call, J., Tennie, C. (2021). Evaluating the influence of action- and subject-specific factors on chimpanzee action copying. Registered Report in Royal Society Open Science. 8: 200228200228. See also these twitter threads: 1, 2 and 3.
Orellana Figueroa, J. D., Reeves, J. S., McPherron, S. P., & Tennie, C. (2021). A proof of concept for machine learning-based virtual knapping using neural networks. Scientific Reports, 11, 1-12.
Tennie, C. (2021). Humans (but not other apes) frequently cumulate know-how. Comment on: Vasen & Houkes (2021) “Is human culture cumulative?” in Current Anthropology, 62, 231-232.
Bandini, E., Bandini, M. & Tennie, C. (2021). A short report on the extent of stone handling behavior across otter species. Animal Behavior and Cognition, 8: 15-22. Open access. See also this twitter thread.
Tennie, C., Hopper, L. & van Schaik, C.P. (2020). On the origin of cumulative culture: consideration of the role of copying in culture-dependent traits and a reappraisal of the zone of latent solutions hypothesis. In: Chimpanzees in Context: A Comparative Perspective on Chimpanzee Behavior, Cognition, Conservation, and Welfare. Ed.: Ross, S & Hopper, L; University of Chicago Press.
Kalan, A.K., Kulik, L., Arandjelovic, M. [...] Tennie, C. [...] Kühl, H.S. (2020). Environmental variability supports chimpanzee behavioural diversity. Nat Commun 11, 4451. This paper shows that, empirically, environmental factors matter (a lot) for apes' behavioural diversity, including for their culture (though it does not show what kind of culture apes have).
Tennie, C., Bandini, E., van Schaik, C.P. & Hopper, L.M. (2020). The zone of latent solutions and its relevance to understanding ape cultures. Biology & Philosophy. 23: 55. See also this twitter thread.
Tennie, C. & van Schaik, C. P. (2020). Spontaneous (minimal) ritual in non-human great apes? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences. B37520190423 See also this twitter thread.
Bandini, E., Motes-Rodrigo, A., Steele, M.P., Rutz, C., & Tennie, C. (2020). Examining the mechanisms underlying the acquisition of animal tool behaviour. Biology Letters. 1620200122. Open acccess. See also this short twitter thread.
Reindl, E., Gwilliams, A.L., Dean, L.G., Kendal, R.L. & Tennie, C. (2020). Skills and motivations underlying children’s cumulative cultural learning: case not closed. Palgrave Communications. 6, 106. See also this twitter thread.
Neldner, K., Reindl, E., Tennie, C., Grant, J., Tomaselli, K. & Nielsen, M., (2020). A cross-cultural investigation of young children's spontaneous invention of tool use behaviours. RSOS. Online first. This paper is open access - so you can download it cost-free from the journal's website. See also this twitter thread.
Schmidt, P., Rageot, M., Blessing, M., & Tennie, C. (2020). The Zandmotor data do not resolve the question whether Middle Paleolithic birch tar making was complex or not. PNAS.
Dogandžić, T., Abdolazadeh, A., Leader, G., Li, L., McPherron, S. P., Tennie, C., & Dibble, H. L. (2020). The results of lithic experiments performed on glass cores are applicable to other raw materials. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 12 (2), 44.
Tennie, C. (2019). The zone of latent solution (ZLS) account remains the most parsimonious explanation for early stone tools. Current Anthropology.
Motes-Rodrigo, A., Majlesi, P., Pickering, T. R., Laska, M., Axelsen, H., Minchin, T. C., Tennie, C., & Hernandez-Aguilar, R. A. (2019). Chimpanzee extractive foraging with excavating tools: Experimental modeling of the origins of human technology. PloS one, 14(5), e0215644.
Bandini, E. and Tennie C. (2019). Individual acquisition of “stick pounding” behavior by naïve chimpanzees. American Journal of Primatology: e22987.
Bandini, E & Tennie, C. (2017). Spontaneous reoccurrence of “scooping”, a wild tool-use behaviour, in naïve chimpanzees. PeerJ 5:e3814.
Reindl, E. Apperly, I.A., Beck, S.R., & Tennie, C. (2017). Young children copy cumulative technological design in the absence of action information. Scientific Reports
Tennie, C., Premo, L.S., Braun, D.R. & McPherron, S. P. (2017). Resetting the null hypothesis: early stone tools and cultural transmission. Forum Article in: Current Anthropology
Reindl, E., Beck, S.R., Apperly, I.A. & Tennie, C. (2016). Young children spontaneously invent wild great apes’ tool-use behaviors. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 283, 1825.
Tennie, C., Braun, D. R., Premo, L. S. & McPherron, S. P. (2016). The Island Test for Cumulative Culture in Paleolithic Cultures. The Nature of Culture. Series: Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Eds.: M.N. Haidle, N.J. Conard, & M. Bolus. Springer, Netherlands, pp. 121-133.