The use of individual, social, and animated cue information by capuchin monkeys and children in a touchscreen task

Renner, Elizabeth; Kean, Donna; Atkinson, Mark; Caldwell, Christine A.

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-80221-4

The use of individual, social, and animated cue information by capuchin monkeys and children in a touchscreen task

Renner, Elizabeth; Kean, Donna; Atkinson, Mark; Caldwell, Christine A.

Authors

Elizabeth Renner

Donna Kean

Mark Atkinson

Christine A. Caldwell

Abstract

The distinctiveness of human cumulative culture raises the question of whether humans respond differently to information originating from social sources, compared with information from other sources. Further, does any such differential responding set humans apart from other species? We studied how capuchin monkeys and 2- to 5-year-old children used information originating from their own actions, those of a human demonstrator, or an animated cue. This information, presented via a touchscreen, always revealed in the first trial (T1) the reward value (rewarded or unrewarded) of one stimulus from a 2- or 3-item array, and could be used in a follow-up trial (T2) involving the same stimulus array. Two monkeys achieved a level of proficiency indicating their appreciation of the T1–T2 relationship, i.e., reliably repeating rewarded (“win”) selections and actively avoiding repetition of unrewarded (“lose”) selections well above chance levels. Neither the two task-proficient monkeys nor the children showed overall performance differences between the three source conditions. Non-task-proficient monkeys, by contrast, did show effects of source, performing best with individually-acquired information. The overall pattern of results hints at an alternative perspective on evidence typically interpreted as showing a human advantage for social information use.

Citation

Renner, E., Kean, D., Atkinson, M., & Caldwell, C. A. (2021). The use of individual, social, and animated cue information by capuchin monkeys and children in a touchscreen task. Scientific Reports, 11, Article 1043. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-80221-4

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Dec 15, 2020
Online Publication Date	Jan 13, 2021
Publication Date	2021
Deposit Date	Jun 14, 2021
Publicly Available Date	Jun 14, 2021
Journal	Scientific Reports
Publisher	Nature Research
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	11
Article Number	1043
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-80221-4

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