Look into our eyes

The mind-reading abilities of monkeys, and what they can teach us about human powers of deduction, were discussed at a public lecture at the University of St Andrews. Juan-Carlos Gomez, a psychology lecturer at the university, explained how monkeys and apes use visual and bodily cues to communicate, and how this could help us to understand how we interpret other people's thoughts. "Recent research suggests common human behaviour, such as following the gaze of others, has deep evolutionary roots and may hold the key to understanding how we became such accomplished mind-readers," he said. The lecture took place on 11 March.