Following the human point: Research with nonhuman animals since Povinelli, Nelson, and Boysen (1990)

For this special issue in honor of Dr. Sarah (Sally) Boysen’s career, we review studies on point following in nonhuman animals. Of the 125 papers that we documented on this topic published since the publication of Povinelli, Nelson, and Boysen (1990), 93 (74%) were published in the past fifteen years, including 21 in the past five years, indicating that this topic is still an active area of interest in the field of animal behavior and cognition. We present results of a survey of publication trends, discussing the species tested and the sample sizes, and we note methodological considerations and current multi-laboratory approaches. We then categorize and synthesize the research questions addressed in these studies, which have been at both the ultimate level (e.g., questions related to evolutionary adaptiveness and phylogenetic differences) and proximate level (e.g., questions related to experiential and temperamental processes). Throughout, we consider future directions for this area of research.