Understanding imitation in Papio papio: the role of experience and the presence of a conspecific demonstrator

Data supporting the analyses performed in the article

Understanding imitation in Papio papio: the role of experience and the presence of a conspecific demonstrator

International audienceWhat factors affect imitation performance? Varying theories of imitation stress the role of experience, but few studies have explicitly tested its role in imitative learning in non-human primates. We tested several predictions regarding the role of experience, conspecific presence, and action compatibility using a stimulus-response compatibility protocol. Nineteen baboons separated into two experimental groups learned to respond by targeting on a touch screen the same stimulus as their neighbour (Compatible) or the opposite stimulus (Incompatible). They first performed the task with a conspecific demonstrator (Social phase) and then a computer demonstrator (Ghost phase). After reaching a predetermined success threshold, they were then tested in an opposite compatibility condition (i.e., Reversal learning conditions). Seven baboons performed at least two reversals during the social phase, and we found no significant difference between the compatible and incompatible conditions, although we noticed slightly faster RTs in the compatible condition that disappeared after the first reversal. During the ghost phase, monkeys showed difficulties in learning the incompatible condition, and the compatible condition RTs tended to be slower than during the social phase. Together, these results suggest that 1) there is no strong movement compatibility effect in our task, and that 2) the presence of a demonstrator plays a role in eliciting correct responses but is not essential, as has been previously shown in human studies

Guinea baboons are strategic cooperators

International audienceHumans are strategic cooperators; we make decisions on the basis of costs and benefits to maintain high levels of cooperation, and this is thought to have played a key role in human evolution. In comparison, monkeys and apes might lack the cognitive capacities necessary to develop flexible forms of cooperation. We show that Guinea baboons ( Papio papio ) can use direct reciprocity and partner choice to develop and maintain high levels of cooperation in a prosocial choice task. Our findings demonstrate that monkeys have the cognitive capacities to adjust their level of cooperation strategically using a combination of partner choice and partner control strategies. Such capacities were likely present in our common ancestor and would have provided the foundations for the evolution of typically human forms of cooperation

The experimental emergence of convention in a non-human primate

International audienceConventions form an essential part of human social and cultural behaviour and may also be important to other animal societies. Yet, despite the wealth of evidence that has accumulated for culture in non-human animals, we know surprisingly little about non-human conventions beyond a few rare examples. We follow the literature in behavioural ecology and evolution and define conventions as systematic behaviours that solve a coordination problem in which two or more individuals need to display complementary behaviour to obtain a mutually beneficial outcome. We start by discussing the literature on conventions in non-human primates from this perspective and conclude that all the ingredients for conventions to emerge are present and therefore that they ought to be more frequently observed. We then probe emergence of conventions by using a unique novel experimental system in which pairs of Guinea baboons (Papio papio) can voluntarily participate together in touch-screen based cognitive testing and we show that conventions readily emerge in our experimental setup and that they share three fundamental properties of human conventions (arbitrariness, stability and efficiency). These results question the idea that observational learning, and imitation in particular, is necessary to establish conventions, they suggest that positive reinforcement is enough

Understanding imitation in Papio papio : the role of experience and the presence of a conspecific demonstrator

What factors affect imitation performance? Varying theories of imitation stress the role of experience, but few studies have explicitly tested its role in imitative learning in non-human primates. We tested several predictions regarding the role of experience, conspecific presence, and action compatibility using a stimulus-response compatibility protocol. Nineteen baboons separated into two experimental groups learned to respond by targeting on a touch screen the same stimulus as their neighbour (Compatible) or the opposite stimulus (Incompatible). They first performed the task with a conspecific demonstrator (Social phase) and then a computer demonstrator (Ghost phase). After reaching a predetermined success threshold, they were then tested in an opposite compatibility condition (i.e., Reversal learning conditions). Seven baboons performed at least two reversals during the social phase, and we found no significant difference between the compatible and incompatible conditions, although we noticed slightly faster RTs in the compatible condition that disappeared after the first reversal. During the ghost phase, monkeys showed difficulties in learning the incompatible condition, and the compatible condition RTs tended to be slower than during the social phase. Together, these results suggest that 1) there is no strong movement compatibility effect in our task, and that 2) the presence of a demonstrator plays a role in eliciting correct responses but is not essential, as has been previously shown in human studies.PostprintPeer reviewe