Presentation Details
| Monkey See, Monkey Cue: Do capuchins (Sapajus [Cebus] apella) follow and utilize conspecific gaze? Nicole Furgala1, 3, Matthew Babb2, 3, Benjamin Wilson1, Sarah Brosnan2, 3, Marcela Benitez1. 1Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.2Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA.3Language Research Center, Atlanta, GA, USA |
Abstract
Gaze following, considered a building block of perspective-taking, is widespread across taxa. Some evidence suggests that capuchins follow human gaze, yet their ability to follow conspecific gaze remains unknown, even showing limited success in visual perspective-taking tasks. Here, we examined whether captive capuchins follow and utilize conspecific gaze in a computerized target-choice task. Capuchins viewed videos of a group member (social stimuli) or a rotating sphere (asocial stimuli) “looking” toward one of two icons on a screen. Combining non-restrained eye tracking with the computerized task, we tested whether capuchins spontaneously follow conspecific gaze and whether they can learn to use gaze as a salient cue. Eye-tracking results suggest some sensitivity to conspecific gaze, yet capuchins may have relied on movement cues. Capuchins did not spontaneously use gaze in the task but learned to do so over time, with males learning faster from social stimuli and females learning faster from asocial stimuli. Disentangling how rank and sex influence sensitivity to social cues is an important next step in understanding how primates consider others’ perceptual states.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
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