Comparing physical and social cognitive skills in macaque species with different degrees of social tolerance

Joly, M, Micheletta, J, De Marco, A, Langermans, JA, Sterck, EHM and Waller, BM ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6303-7458, 2017. Comparing physical and social cognitive skills in macaque species with different degrees of social tolerance. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284 (1862): 20162738. ISSN 0962-8452

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Abstract

Contemporary evolutionary theories propose that living in groups drives the selection of enhanced cognitive skills to face competition and facilitate cooperation between individuals. Being able to coordinate both in space and time with others and make strategic decisions are essential skills for cooperating within groups. Social tolerance and an egalitarian social structure have been proposed as one specific driver of cooperation. Therefore, social tolerance is predicted to be associated with enhanced cognitive skills that underpin communication and coordination. Social tolerance should also be associated with enhanced inhibition, which is crucial for suppressing automatic responses and permitting delayed gratification in cooperative contexts. We tested the performance of four closely related non-human primate species (genus Macaca) characterized by different degrees of social tolerance on a large battery of cog-nitive tasks covering physical and social cognition, and on an inhibitory control task. All species performed at a comparable level on the physical cognition tasks but the more tolerant species outperformed the less tolerant species at a social cognition task relevant to cooperation and in the inhibitory control task. These findings support the hypothesis that social tolerance is associated with the evolution of sophisticated cognitive skills relevant for cooperative social living.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Creators:	Joly, M., Micheletta, J., De Marco, A., Langermans, J.A., Sterck, E.H.M. and Waller, B.M.
Publisher:	The Royal Society
Date:	13 September 2017
Volume:	284
Number:	1862
ISSN:	0962-8452
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1098/rspb.2016.2738 DOI 28904133 PubMed ID 1370789 Other
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Jill Tomkinson
Date Added:	21 Oct 2020 13:33
Last Modified:	31 May 2021 15:15
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/41387

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