Story perspectives

Monkeys Match Preschoolers on Shape-Matching, Show Rotation Reasoning

7/22/2026

Summary

Story summary

U.S. researchers found baboons and macaques matched preschoolers on a shape-matching task.
Monkeys used a touchscreen in the Primate Portal at Seneca Park Zoo, Rochester, New York, earning fruit.
Fifty-eight preschoolers and 79 Tsimane adults completed the task for stickers or verbal feedback.
All groups’ responses aligned with a symbolic model of symmetry, parallelism and right angles, with five monkeys tripling reliance on rotated shapes and showing shared rotation-invariant reasoning.

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Story summary

U.S. researchers found baboons and macaques matched preschoolers on a shape-matching task.
Monkeys used a touchscreen in the Primate Portal at Seneca Park Zoo, Rochester, New York, earning fruit.
Fifty-eight preschoolers and 79 Tsimane adults completed the task for stickers or verbal feedback.
All groups’ responses aligned with a symbolic model of symmetry, parallelism and right angles, with five monkeys tripling reliance on rotated shapes and showing shared rotation-invariant reasoning.