Copying the behaviour of others makes us effective learners and allow skills, knowledge and inventions to be passed on from one generation to the next. Imitation is therefore viewed as the key cognitive ability that enabled human culture to grow and create such things as language, technology, art and science. Decades of research has shown that apes, in spite of their proverbial aping abilities, are rather poor imitators, especially when compared to human children. The imitative superiority of children has been attributed to a higher social motivation to engage others in communication and the sharing of experiences. Current theories hold that apes are worse imitators because they lack this social and communicative side of imitation. The studies behind these theories, however, have focused on imitation in the area of learning solutions to physical problems.