Genetic Influences on Receptive Joint Attention in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Hopkins, William D.; Keebaugh, Alaine C.; Reamer, Lisa A.; Schaeffer, Jennifer; Schapiro, Steven J.; Young, Larry J.

doi:10.1038/srep03774

Cited by 64 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 61 publications

(89 reference statements)

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“…In line with this, experimental testing in male chimpanzees has shown that individuals with a DupB+ allele are more responsive to socio-communicative cues of humans compared to males homozygous for the DupB deletion31. Bonobos are also known to outperform chimpanzees in tasks related to theory of mind43 and are better at gaze-following44.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

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Bonobo personality traits are heritable and associated with vasopressin receptor gene 1a variation

Staes

Weiss

Helsen

et al. 2016

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Despite being closely related, bonobos and chimpanzees show remarkable behavioral differences, the proximate origins of which remain unknown. This study examined the link between behavioral variation and variation in the vasopressin 1a receptor gene (Avpr1a) in bonobos. Chimpanzees are polymorphic for a ~360 bp deletion (DupB), which includes a microsatellite (RS3) in the 5′ promoter region of Avpr1a. In chimpanzees, the DupB deletion has been linked to lower sociability, lower social sensitivity, and higher anxiety. Chimpanzees and bonobos differ on these traits, leading some to believe that the absence of the DupB deletion in bonobos may be partly responsible for these differences, and to the prediction that similar associations between Avpr1a genotypes and personality traits should be present in bonobos. We identified bonobo personality dimensions using behavioral measures (SociabilityB, BoldnessB, OpennessB, ActivityB) and trait ratings (AssertivenessR, ConscientiousnessR, OpennessR, AgreeablenessR, AttentivenessR, ExtraversionR). In the present study we found that all 10 dimensions have nonzero heritabilities, indicating there is a genetic basis to personality, and that bonobos homozygous for shorter RS3 alleles were lower in AttentivenessR and higher in OpennessB. These results suggest that variations in Avpr1a genotypes explain both within and between species differences in personality traits of bonobos and chimpanzees.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…Chimpanzees with a DupB+ allele were rated higher on Conscientiousness but lower on Extraversion16, and DupB+ males scored higher on Conscientiousness and Dominance than females30. Finally, the DupB deletion was associated with a reduction in attentiveness to human social cues31.…”

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confidence: 92%

Bonobo personality traits are heritable and associated with vasopressin receptor gene 1a variation

Staes

Weiss

Helsen

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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“…Presumably these attributes would have conferred advantages to some individuals potentially in the way of enhanced foraging skills or increase social skills, leading to increased opportunities for access to food or mating [24, 25]. These individuals would have then potentially had increased survival and fitness, traits that would have become increasingly selected upon during primate evolution, as has been postulated by a number of theorist going all the way back to Darwin [26-30].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chimpanzee Intelligence Is Heritable

2014

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Summary The role that genes play in human intelligence or IQ has remained a point of significant scientific debate dating back to the time of Galton [1]. It has now become increasingly clear that IQ is heritable in humans but these effects can be modified by non-genetic mechanisms [2-4]. In contrast to human IQ, until recently, views of learning and cognition in animals have largely been dominated by the behaviorist school of thought, originally championed by Watson [5] and Skinner [6]. A large body of research has now accumulated demonstrating a variety of cognitive abilities in nonhuman animals that challenge traditional behaviorist interpretations of performance [7, 8]. This, in turn, has lead to a renewed interest in the role that social and biological factors might play in explaining individual and phylogenetic differences in cognition[9]. Specifically, aside from early attempts to selectively breed for learning skills in rodents [10-12], studies examining the role that genetic factors might play in individual variation in cognitive abilities in nonhuman animals, particularly nonhuman primates, are scarce. Here, we utilized a modified Primate Cognitive Test Battery [13] in conjunction with quantitative genetic analyses to examine whether cognitive performance is heritable in chimpanzees. We found that some but not all cognitive traits were significantly heritable in chimpanzees. We further found significant genetic correlations between different dimensions of cognitive functioning, suggesting that the same genes may explain their variability.

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“…Many of the chimpanzees in each colony are related and this allowed for an analysis of heritability in tool use and asymmetry using quantitative genetics based on the entire pedigree (table 1). Consistent with approaches used by others [48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56], to estimate heritability, we used the software package SOLAR [57]. SOLAR uses a variance components approach to estimate the polygenic component of variance when considering the entire pedigree (see [48,51,54]).…”

Section: (D) Data Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic basis in motor skill and hand preference for tool use in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

et al. 2015

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Chimpanzees are well known for their tool using abilities. Numerous studies have documented variability in tool use among chimpanzees and the role that social learning and other factors play in their development. There are also findings on hand use in both captive and wild chimpanzees; however, less understood are the potential roles of genetic and non-genetic mechanisms in determining individual differences in tool use skill and laterality. Here, we examined heritability in tool use skill and handedness for a probing task in a sample of 243 captive chimpanzees. Quantitative genetic analysis, based on the extant pedigrees, showed that overall both tool use skill and handedness were significantly heritable. Significant heritability in motor skill was evident in two genetically distinct populations of apes, and between two cohorts that received different early social rearing experiences. We further found that motor skill decreased with age and that males were more commonly left-handed than females. Collectively, these data suggest that though non-genetic factors do influence tool use performance and handedness in chimpanzees, genetic factors also play a significant role, as has been reported in humans.

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Genetic Influences on Receptive Joint Attention in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Cited by 64 publications

References 61 publications

Bonobo personality traits are heritable and associated with vasopressin receptor gene 1a variation

Bonobo personality traits are heritable and associated with vasopressin receptor gene 1a variation

Chimpanzee Intelligence Is Heritable

Genetic basis in motor skill and hand preference for tool use in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

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