In his studies on pointing gestures with children and apes, Tibor Tauzin was able to identify a decisive difference: Children show that they can understand better than apes that our behaviour is controlled by thoughts, feelings, goals, etc. - this is known as mentalizing.
For example, children are able to adapt their gestures if they have to assume that their counterpart does not have certain informations. Apes are also able to use pointing gestures, but they do not adapt them as precisely to the mental state of the other person. Communicative mentalizing therefore could be a specifically human ability.
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19.05.2025