Direction and expressivity of faces impact third-party social attention in rhesus macaques

O’Callaghan, O, Whitehouse, J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2607-5492, Rees, K and Waller, BM ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6303-7458, 2026. Direction and expressivity of faces impact third-party social attention in rhesus macaques. Animal Behaviour, 233: 123492. ISSN 0003-3472

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Abstract

Facial expressions play a central role in primate social communication, but in cognitive experiments, they are typically presented out of context and directed at the subject. In natural settings, however, primates often see facial expressions as part of social interactions between others. In this study, we investigated how the direction and expressivity of faces affect the social attention of rhesus macaques, Macaca mulatta. We presented 81 semi-freeranging rhesus macaques with still images depicting two male (avatar) conspecifics either facing each other (suggesting a third-party social interaction) or facing away (suggesting no interaction), and with either neutral or expressive faces (a threat and a silent bared-teeth display). We measured total looking time and the number of gaze shifts between the faces. Macaques looked significantly longer at expressive faces in interactions compared with neutral, noninteracting faces. Gaze shifts did not differ between conditions, but there was a trend towards greater frequency for expressive trials. These results, based on male avatars, suggested that the expressivity and the social context of a face impact how much attention it receives, highlighted the importance of context in primate facial expression processing and the adaptive significance of third-party observation in primates.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Animal Behaviour
Creators:	O’Callaghan, O., Whitehouse, J., Rees, K. and Waller, B.M.
Publisher:	Elsevier
Date:	March 2026
Volume:	233
ISSN:	0003-3472
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1016/j.anbehav.2026.123492 DOI 2581048 Other
Rights:	© 2026 the author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	24 Feb 2026 15:19
Last Modified:	24 Feb 2026 15:19
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/55327

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