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Capuchin Monkeys Display Affiliation Toward Humans Who Imitate Them Paukner et al 2009

Capuchin Monkeys Display Affiliation Toward Humans Who Imitate Them Paukner et al 2009. Presentation by: Patricia Black and Christine Schwartz. Background Information. Humans unintentionally/unconsciously imitate other’s Imitated persons are more likely to display prosocial behavior

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Capuchin Monkeys Display Affiliation Toward Humans Who Imitate Them Paukner et al 2009

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  1. Capuchin Monkeys Display Affiliation Toward Humans Who Imitate ThemPaukner et al 2009 Presentation by: Patricia Black and Christine Schwartz

  2. Background Information • Humans unintentionally/unconsciously imitate other’s • Imitated persons are more likely to display prosocial behavior • Imitation may play an important role in maintaining harmonious relationships and may facilitate group living • Can non human primates recognize imitation & does it positively effect social interactions?

  3. Why Capuchins? • Highly social & socially tolerant • Easily influenced by others’ behaviors • Likely to recognize imitation • Strongly bonded groups ~ humans

  4. Experimental Design

  5. Experiment 1: Can they recognize imitation? • Baseline phase: the monkey watched as one experimenter performed actions the monkey was known to perform (mouthing, poking, slamming) and the other performed contingent actions (throwing the ball and catching it, hitting it on table) • Manipulation phase: monkey is given a ball, 1 experimenter imitated, 1 performed contingentaction • Each monkey tested 2 times, with 24hr delay between

  6. Experiment 2: Would they increase proximity to imitator? • Increased proximity is reliable indicator of affiliation in relationships • Experimenters faced cages, monkey could move between • Monkey restricted to middle cage, Exp 1 repeated • Monkey given access to all cages, experimenters switched positions

  7. Experiment 3: Control for Familiarity • Rule out effect of familiarity • Similar to experiment 2 • Exceptions: • Experimenters remained passive • One experimenter faced away from monkey

  8. Experiment 4: Does Imitation Affect Social? • Tested monkey interaction with a token exchange task • Baseline: No imitation, just exchange • Manipulation: Experiment 1 recreated • Exception: 3rd experimenter giving commands • Token exchange task repeated

  9. Experiment 5: Control • Performed to rule out possibility exchange was not due to increased familiarity or perceived attentiveness • Same as experiment 4 • Exceptions: • Experimenters remained passive • One experimenter faced away from monkey

  10. Results – Experiment 1: Continuous Imitation • Monkeys looked longer at the imitator throughout the manipulation phase, but the difference in looking time at imitator and non-imitator failed to reach statistical significance. • Significant preference for the imitator while the monkey manipulated the ball and hence was being imitated. • Illustrates that capuchins can recognize imitation

  11. Results – Experiment 2: Imitation and Gaze • Monkeys spent significantly more time in front of imitator than non imitator • Monkeys looked longer at imitator throughout manipulation phase when being imitated

  12. Results Experiment 3: Control for Familiarity • Monkeys spent similar amounts of time in front of both experimenters • Illustrates that it is the process of being imitated, not familiarity, that caused monkeys to increase proximity in Experiment 2

  13. Results – Experiment 4: Token Exchange & Imitation • Monkeys showed visual preference for imitator during manipulation phase • Monkeys exchanged more frequently with imitator in second exchange trial • Indicates being imitated increased the frequency of monkeys interactions with the imitator

  14. Results – Experiment 5: Token Exchange & Familiarity • Monkeys showed no preference for experimenter who had faced themduring the manipulation phase • Confirms that it is the process of being imitated that led to increased interactions with the imitator in Experiment 4

  15. Results - Figures

  16. Discussion • Imitation significantly affects the behavior of capuchin monkeys • They look longer at imitators, spend more time in proximity to imitators, and prefer to interact with imitators in a token exchange task. • Control tests show that these preferences cannot be solely explained by familiarity or attentiveness.

  17. Discussion • Imitation is a precursor to social interactions not only in humans but also in capuchin monkeys. • Being able to synchronize behaviors for travel, feeding, and predator defense helps organize social group living. • Matching or coordination of behaviors may lead to higher levels of tolerance and affiliation as well as decrease aggressive behaviors.

  18. Discussion • Behavior matching which increases affiliation might have helped to maintain harmonious relationships between individuals living in social groups. • An empathic connection resulting from behavior matching may therefore extend to others in the social environment and promote altruistic behavioral tendencies in primates.

  19. Possible Confounds/ Further Studies • Imitation is usually subtle, but was exaggerated in the lab setting • Capuchins do not explicitly match actions in the precise and timed manner of the human imitator in the study • Possible study: How do these conditions transfer to capuchins natural group environment?

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