Seeding an arbitrary convention in capuchin monkeys: the effect of social context
In: BehaviourSearch for other papers by E.V. Lonsdorf in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by K.E. Bonnie in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by M. Grim in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by A. Krupnick in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by M. Prestipino in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by J. Whyte in
Current site
Google Scholar
The study of social learning in non-human animals has advanced beyond attempts to determine which animals are capable of learning socially to investigations of the factors that influence transmission. Capuchin monkeys (Sapajus sp.) are adept social learners of various behaviours including extractive foraging techniques and social customs. Here, we conducted an open diffusion experiment to determine whether capuchins would learn an arbitrary convention from a knowledgeable demonstrator. In addition, we investigated whether rank, sex and social context affected acquisition and expression of the behaviour. Participation in the experiment was strongly influenced by dominance rank in the group setting. However, when tested individually, the majority of individuals participated and faithfully copied the convention that was seeded into their group. Our findings demonstrate that capuchins can acquire an arbitrary convention via social learning, but that social context must be carefully considered in studies of social learning.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Addessi E., Mancini A., Crescimbene L., Visalberghi E. (2011). How social context, token value, and time course affect token exchange in capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). — Int. J. Primatol. 32: 83-98.
-
Agostini I., Visalberghi E. (2005). Social influences on the acquisition of sex-typical foraging patterns by juveniles in a group of wild tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus nigritus). — Am. J. Primatol. 65: 335-351.
-
Alfaro J.W.L., Silva J.D.S.E., Rylands A.B. (2012). How different are robust and gracile capuchin monkeys? An argument for the use of Sapajus and Cebus. — Am. J. Primatol. 74: 273-286.
-
Aplin L.M., Sheldon B.C., Morand-Ferron J. (2013). Milk bottles revisited: social learning and individual variation in the blue tit, Cyanistes caeruleus. — Anim. Behav. 85: 1225-1232.
-
Battesti M., Moreno C., Joly D., Mery F. (2012). Spread of social information and dynamics of social transmission within Drosophila groups. — Curr. Biol. 22: 309-313.
-
Benskin C.M.H., Mann N.I., Lachlan R.F., Slater P.J.B. (2002). Social learning directs feeding preferences in the zebra finch, Taeniopygia guttata. — Anim. Behav. 64: 823-828.
-
Bonnie K.E., Horner V., Whiten A., de Waal F.B.M. (2007). Spread of arbitrary conventions among chimpanzees: a controlled experiment. — Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B: Biol. Sci. 274: 367-372.
-
Boogert N.J., Nightingale G.F., Hoppitt W., Laland K.N. (2014). Perching but not foraging networks predict the spread of novel foraging skills in starlings. — Behav. Proc. 109: 135-144.
-
Cadieu N., Fruchard S., Cadieu J.C. (2010). Innovative individuals are not always the best demonstrators: feeding innovation and social transmission in Serinus canaria. — PLoS One 5: e8841.
-
Choleris E., Kavaliers M. (1999). Social learning in animals: sex differences and neurobiological analysis. — Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav. 64: 767-776.
-
Claidière N., Messer E.J., Hoppitt W., Whiten A. (2013). Diffusion dynamics of socially learned foraging techniques in squirrel monkeys. — Curr. Biol. 23: 1251-1255.
-
Coussi-Korbel S., Fragaszy D.M. (1995). On the relation between social dynamics and social learning. — Anim. Behav. 50: 1441-1453.
-
Dindo M., Leimgruber K.L., Ahmed R., Whiten A., de Waal F.B.M. (2011). Observer choices during experimental foraging tasks in brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). — Am. J. Primatol. 73: 920-927.
-
Dindo M., Stoinski T., Whiten A. (2011). Observational learning in orangutan cultural transmission chains. — Biol. Lett. 7: 181-183.
-
Dindo M., Thierry B., Whiten A. (2008). Social diffusion of novel foraging methods in brown capuchins (Cebus apella). — Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B: Biol. Sci. 275: 187-193.
-
Dindo M., Whiten A., de Waal F.B.M. (2009). In-group conformity sustains different foraging traditions in capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). — Pub. Lib. Sci. 4: e7858.
-
Drea C.M., Wallen K. (1999). Low-status monkeys “play dumb” when learning in mixed social groups. — Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96: 12965-12969.
-
Fragaszy D.M., Visalberghi E. (1989). Social influences on the acquisition of tool-using behaviours in tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). — J. Comp. Psychol. 103: 159-170.
-
Fragaszy D.M., Visalberghi E., Fedigan L.M. (2004). The complete capuchin. — Cambridge University Press, New York, NY.
-
Hoppitt W., Laland K.N. (2013). Social learning: an introduction to mechanisms, methods, and models. — Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
-
Horner V., Proctor D., Bonnie K.E., Whiten A., de Waal F.B.M. (2010). Prestige affects cultural learning in chimpanzees. — Pub. Lib. Sci. 5: e10625.
-
Katz M., Lachlan R.F. (2003). Social learning of food types in zebra finches (Taenopygia guttata) is directed by demonstrator sex and feeding activity. — Anim. Cogn. 6: 11-16.
-
Kendal R., Hopper L.M., Whiten A., Brosnan S.F., Lambeth S.P., Schapiro S.J., Hoppitt W. (2015). Chimpanzees copy dominant and knowledgeable individuals: implications for cultural diversity. — Evol. Hum. Behav. 36: 65-72.
-
Leca J.B., Gunst N., Huffman M.A. (2007). Japanese macaque cultures: inter-and intra-troop behavioural variability of stone handling patterns across 10 troops. — Behaviour 144: 251-281.
-
Lonsdorf E.V., Bonnie K.E. (2010). Opportunities and constraints when studying social learning: developmental approaches and social factors. — Learn. Behav. 38: 195-205.
-
Lonsdorf E.V., Eberly L.E., Pusey A.E. (2004). Sex differences in learning in chimpanzees. — Nature 428: 715-716.
-
Nicol C.J., Pope S.J. (1999). The effects of demonstrator social status and prior foraging success on social learning in laying hens. — Anim. Behav. 57: 163-171.
-
Perry S. (2009). Conformism in the food processing techniques of white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus). — Anim. Cogn. 12: 705-717.
-
Perry S. (2011). Social traditions and social learning in capuchin monkeys (Cebus). — Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. B: Biol. Sci. 366: 988-996.
-
Perry S., Baker M., Fedigan L., Gros-Louis J., Jack K., MacKinnon K., Manson J.H., Panger M., Pyle K., Rose L. (2003). Social conventions in wild white-faced capuchin monkeys: evidence for traditions in a Neotropical primate. — Curr. Anthropol. 44: 241-268.
-
Pongrácz P., Vida V., Bánhegyi P., Miklósi Á. (2008). How does dominance rank status affect individual and social learning performance in the dog (Canis familiaris)? — Anim. Cogn. 6: 75-82.
-
Rendell L., Fogarty L., Hoppitt W.J., Morgan T.J., Webster M.M., Laland K.N. (2011). Cognitive culture: theoretical and empirical insights into social learning strategies. — Trends Cogn. Sci. 15: 68-76.
-
Thornton A., Malapert A. (2009a). The rise and fall of an arbitrary tradition: an experiment with wild meerkats. — Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B: Biol. Sci. 276: 1269-1276.
-
Thornton A., Malapert A. (2009b). Experimental evidence for social transmission of food acquisition techniques in wild meerkats. — Anim. Behav. 78: 255-264.
-
van de Waal E., Renevey N., Favre C.M., Bshary R. (2010). Selective attention to philopatric models causes directed social learning in wild vervet monkeys. — Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B: Biol. Sci. 277: 2105-2111.
-
van Leeuwen E.J., Cronin K.A., Haun D.B. (2014). A group-specific arbitrary tradition in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). — Anim. Cogn. 17: 1421-1425.
-
Verbeek P., de Waal F.B.M. (1997). Postconflict behaviour of captive brown capuchins in the presence and absence of attractive food. — Int. J. Primatol. 18: 703-725.
-
West M.J., King A.P., White D.J. (2003). Discovering culture in birds: the role of learning and development. — In: Animal social complexity: intelligence, culture, and individualized societies ( de Waal F.B.M., Tyack P.L., eds). Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, p. 470-492.
-
Whiten A., Caldwell C.A., Mesoudi A. (2016). Cultural diffusion in humans and other animals. — Curr. Opin. Psychol. 8: 15-21.
-
Whiten A., Mesoudi A. (2008). Establishing an experimental science of culture: animal social diffusion experiments. — Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. B: Biol. Sci. 363: 3477-3488.
-
Zaiontz C. (2015). Real statistics using Excel. — Available online at http://www.real-statistics.com.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 646 | 81 | 9 |
| Full Text Views | 330 | 7 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 172 | 15 | 0 |
Seeding an arbitrary convention in capuchin monkeys: the effect of social context
In: BehaviourSearch for other papers by E.V. Lonsdorf in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by K.E. Bonnie in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by M. Grim in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by A. Krupnick in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by M. Prestipino in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by J. Whyte in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
The study of social learning in non-human animals has advanced beyond attempts to determine which animals are capable of learning socially to investigations of the factors that influence transmission. Capuchin monkeys (Sapajus sp.) are adept social learners of various behaviours including extractive foraging techniques and social customs. Here, we conducted an open diffusion experiment to determine whether capuchins would learn an arbitrary convention from a knowledgeable demonstrator. In addition, we investigated whether rank, sex and social context affected acquisition and expression of the behaviour. Participation in the experiment was strongly influenced by dominance rank in the group setting. However, when tested individually, the majority of individuals participated and faithfully copied the convention that was seeded into their group. Our findings demonstrate that capuchins can acquire an arbitrary convention via social learning, but that social context must be carefully considered in studies of social learning.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 646 | 81 | 9 |
| Full Text Views | 330 | 7 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 172 | 15 | 0 |
