N.N. Ladygina-Kohts - classic in study of animals’ thinking and modern development of her ideas
In connection with the 130th anniversary of the birth of N.N. Ladygina-Kohts we set a task to remind you about one side of her contribution to cognitive science, which is usually not attracted enough attention. Meanwhile, along with a comparison of the ontogenesis of behavior and psyche of infant chimpanzee and human child, she not only for the first time showed the presence of the chimpanzee’s ability to generalize and abstract, but further throughout life studied the animal thinking in all its forms, including the ability to urgently solve new problems (insight) with the use and design of tools. She first investigated the chimp’s ability to self-recognize in the mirror and ««reasonable foresight» as the beginnings of self-awareness. Because of this, she was one of the first to experimentally justify the idea that elementary thinking in animals exists and is an evolutionary prerequisite for human thinking. All the directions of her research are currently being actively investigated by modern methods. All this forced to consider her researches as a classic study of animal thinking.