Sex and rank affect how infant rhesus macaques look at faces

Paukner, Annika; Slonecker, Emily M.; Murphy, Ashley M.; Wooddell, Lauren J.; Dettmer, Amanda M.

doi:10.1002/dev.21579

Cited by 20 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Similarly, in rhesus macaques, infants of high-status mothers also exhibit different temperamental traits compared to low-status monkeys, such as increased levels of activity, lowered startle responses, and reduced cortisol levels (Suarez-Jimenez et al, 2013) and exhibit different socio-visual preferences (i.e., looking more at the eyes, Paukner, Slonecker, Murphy, Wooddell, & Dettmer, 2017), potentially predisposing them to achieve higher status as adults as well.…”

Section: Research Highlightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These consequences of childhood SES may result in a positive feedback loop, whereby childhood SES may influence personality, which in turn, may influence subsequent SES. Similarly, in rhesus macaques, infants of high‐status mothers also exhibit different temperamental traits compared to low‐status monkeys, such as increased levels of activity, lowered startle responses, and reduced cortisol levels (Suarez‐Jimenez et al., ) and exhibit different socio‐visual preferences (i.e., looking more at the eyes, Paukner, Slonecker, Murphy, Wooddell, & Dettmer, ), potentially predisposing them to achieve higher status as adults as well. The social class that one is “born into” therefore may have future impacts on later social status due to similar genetic characteristics (inheritance of maternal temperament; e.g., see Sullivan, Mendoza, & Capitanio, in rhesus macaques) or environmental characteristics (e.g., social opportunities), which are difficult to tease apart in human studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interindividual differences in neonatal sociality and emotionality predict juvenile social status in rhesus monkeys

Wooddell¹,

Simpson

Murphy

et al. 2018

Developmental Science

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In humans, socioeconomic status (SES) has profound outcomes on socio-emotional development and health. However, while much is known about the consequences of SES, little research has examined the predictors of SES due to the longitudinal nature of such studies. We sought to explore whether interindividual differences in neonatal sociality, temperament, and early social experiences predicted juvenile social status in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), as a proxy for SES in humans. We performed neonatal imitation tests in infants' first week of life and emotional reactivity assessments at 2 and 4 weeks of age. We examined whether these traits, as well as the rearing environment in the first 8 months of life (with the mother or with same-aged peers only) and maternal social status predicted juvenile (2-3 years old) social status following the formation of peer social groups at 8 months. We found that infants who exhibited higher rates of neonatal imitation and newborn emotional reactivity achieved higher social status as juveniles, as did infants who were reared with their mothers, compared to infants reared with peers. Maternal social status was only associated with juvenile status for infant dyads reared in the same maternal group, indicating that relative social relationships were transferred through social experience. These results suggest that neonatal imitation and emotional reactivity may reflect ingrained predispositions toward sociality that predict later outcomes, and that nonnormative social experiences can alter socio-developmental trajectories. Our results indicate that neonatal characteristics and early social experiences predict later social outcomes in adolescence, including gradients of social stratification.

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Section: Research Highlightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interindividual differences in neonatal sociality and emotionality predict juvenile social status in rhesus monkeys

Wooddell¹,

Simpson

Murphy

et al. 2018

Developmental Science

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“…Attempts to experimentally manipulate infants’ early experiences have largely been done in animals (for a review: Davidson & Clayton, ). For example, in the first month of life (between 7 and 30 days of age), infant monkeys exhibit considerable individual differences in the extent to which they attend to the eye region of faces: In mother‐reared infants, males look longer to the eye region than females (Paukner, Slonecker, Murphy, Wooddell, & Dettmer, ), but in nursery‐reared infants (who have more limited social experience with conspecifics and are raised by human caretakers), females look more to the eye region than males (Simpson, Nicolini, et al, ). Maternal rank was positively associated with attention to the eyes, although this was only the case for infants reared by their mothers, suggesting this attentional preference may be transmitted through social interactions, rather than inherited through some biological mechanism (Paukner et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual preferences for direct‐gaze faces in infant macaques (Macaca mulatta) with limited face exposure

Simpson

Paukner

Pedersen

et al. 2018

Developmental Psychobiology

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From birth, human and nonhuman primates attend more to faces with direct gaze compared with averted gaze, and previous studies report that attention to the eyes is linked to the emergence of later social skills. Here, we explored whether early experiences influence attraction to eye contact in infant macaques by examining their attention to face pairs varying in their gaze direction across the first 13 weeks of life. Infants raised by human caretakers had limited conspecific interactions (nursery‐reared; N = 16) and were compared to infants raised in rich social environments (mother‐reared; N = 20). Both groups looked longer to faces and the eyes of direct compared to averted‐gaze faces. Looking to all faces and eyes also increased with age. Nursery‐reared infants did not display age‐associated increases in attention to direct‐gaze faces specifically, suggesting that, while there may be an initial preference for direct‐gaze faces from birth, social experiences may support its early development.

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“…In contrast, human adults typically prefer opposite‐sex faces (Proverbio, ), suggesting changes in human preferences across development. As the existing data on primates encompasses macaque infants (Paukner et al, ; Parr et al, ; Paukner, Slonecker, Murphy, Wooddell, & Dettmer, ) and adult capuchins (this study), we are currently unable to determine how these preferences change across life stages in any primate species. A longitudinal and/or cross‐sectional approach within a particular species that documents changes across infancy, at puberty, and into adulthood, is an important focus for future studies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

A competitive drive? Same‐sex attentional preferences in capuchins

Lonsdorf

Engelbert

Howard

2019

American J Primatol

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In primates, faces provide information about several characteristics of social significance, including age, physical health, and biological sex. However, despite a growing literature on face processing and visual attention in a number of primate species, preferences for same-or opposite-sex faces have not yet been examined. In the current study, we explore the role of conspecific sex on visual attention in two groups of capuchin monkeys. Subjects were shown a series of image pairs on a Tobii Pro TX300 eye tracker, each depicting an unfamiliar male and an unfamiliar female face. Given the behavioral evidence of mate choice in both sexes, we hypothesized that capuchins would preferentially attend to images of unfamiliar conspecifics of the opposite sex. Our alternative hypothesis was that capuchins would preferentially attend to same-sex individuals to assess potential competitors. Our results provide support for our alternative hypothesis. When comparing attention to each stimuli type across sexes, females spent significantly larger percentages of time than males looking at female photos, whereas males spent significantly larger percentages of time than females looking at male photos. Within each sex, females looked for significantly larger percentages of time to female versus male images. Males also looked for larger percentages of time to same-sex images, though not significantly. To our knowledge, these data are the first to demonstrate significant sex-biased attentional preferences in adult primates of any species, and suggest that, for capuchins, potential competitors garner more attention than potential mates. In addition, our findings have implications for studies of visual attention and face processing across the primate order, and suggest that researchers need to control for these demographic factors in their experimental designs. K E Y W O R D S capuchin, eye tracking, face preferences, Sapajus [Cebus] apella, visual attention

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Sex and rank affect how infant rhesus macaques look at faces

Cited by 20 publications

References 57 publications

Interindividual differences in neonatal sociality and emotionality predict juvenile social status in rhesus monkeys

Interindividual differences in neonatal sociality and emotionality predict juvenile social status in rhesus monkeys

Visual preferences for direct‐gaze faces in infant macaques (Macaca mulatta) with limited face exposure

A competitive drive? Same‐sex attentional preferences in capuchins

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