A recent study conducted by an international team of scientists including from the University of St Andrews in Scotland, found primates are able to problem solve in ways similar to young human children.

Humans and monkeys are similar in many ways, and now it appears both have a common understanding of how objects work.

A recent study conducted by an international team of scientists including from the University of St Andrews in Scotland, found primates are able to problem solve in ways similar to young human children.

Different primate species were involved in the study, including chimpanzees, bonobos and capuchin monkeys.

The experiments involved two variations of a simple test. It involved presenting the subjects with two strings; one which was cut in half, the other was not.

Each string was tied to food, and in order to retrieve it, the unbroken one had to be pulled. In one version the strings were covered up leaving the food visible and in the other, both strings and the attached food was clearly visible.

All the subjects were more successful when both the strings and food were visible. This showed that monkeys, apes and young children have an easier time learning what something does when they can see it in motion.

Dr. Amanda Seed, a lecturer at University of St Andrews, said, "We found that the monkeys and apes were only able to solve when they could see the object's function...This suggests that these species do have object knowledge and that there is more to their world than meets the eye."