Macaques can predict social outcomes from facial expressions

Waller, BM ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6303-7458, Whitehouse, J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2607-5492 and Micheletta, J, 2016. Macaques can predict social outcomes from facial expressions. Animal cognition, 19, pp. 1031-1036. ISSN 1435-9448

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Abstract

There is widespread acceptance that facial expressions are useful in social interactions, but empirical demonstration of their adaptive function has remained elusive. Here, we investigated whether macaques can use the facial expressions of others to predict the future outcomes of social interaction. Crested macaques (Macaca nigra) were shown an approach between two unknown individuals on a touchscreen and were required to choose between one of two potential social outcomes. The facial expressions of the actors were manipulated in the last frame of the video. One subject reached the experimental stage and accurately predicted different social outcomes depending on which facial expressions the actors displayed. The bared-teeth display (homologue of the human smile) was most strongly associated with predicted friendly outcomes. Contrary to our predictions, screams and threat faces were not associated more with conflict outcomes. Overall, therefore, the presence of any facial expression (compared to neutral) caused the subject to choose friendly outcomes more than negative outcomes. Facial expression in general, therefore, indicated a reduced likelihood of social conflict. The findings dispute traditional theories that view expressions only as indicators of present emotion and instead suggest that expressions form part of complex social interactions where individuals think beyond the present.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Animal cognition
Creators:	Waller, B.M., Whitehouse, J. and Micheletta, J.
Publisher:	Springer
Date:	September 2016
Volume:	19
ISSN:	1435-9448
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1007/s10071-016-0992-3 DOI 1372442 Other
Rights:	The Author(s) 2016. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	09 Oct 2020 15:46
Last Modified:	31 May 2021 15:12
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/41241

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