Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4rdrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-22T00:34:52.451Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Emotional consequences when chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) face challenges: individual differences in self-directed behaviours during cognitive tasks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Y Yamanashi  and
T Matsuzawa
Y Yamanashi*
Affiliation:
The Section of Language and Intelligence, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 41-2 Kanrin, Inuyama City, Aichi, Japan
T Matsuzawa
Affiliation:
The Section of Language and Intelligence, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 41-2 Kanrin, Inuyama City, Aichi, Japan
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: yamanash@pri.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Self-directed behaviours (SDBs) are said to be indicative of negative emotions. The present study focused on chimpanzees’ SDBs during cognitive experiments in order to investigate how each chimpanzee reacted to his or her errors and to changes in task difficulty. We recorded and analysed the behaviour of six chimpanzees during cognitive experiments at the Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, in Japan. We compared the rate of SDBs after correct trials versus incorrect trials, and in easy tasks versus difficult tasks. Our results suggest that the chimpanzees’ reactions to making an error and the degree of difficulty of the task varied depending on the individual. Three out of the six chimpanzees exhibited higher rates of SDBs after incorrect trials than after correct trials, and in difficult tasks than in easy tasks whilst the other three did not. This finding suggests that chimpanzees may differ in the degree to which they exhibit internal conflict and we should carefully assess subjective evaluations of task situations; taking these differences into consideration when conducting experimental research in chimpanzees.

Keywords

animal welfarechimpanzeecognitive taskindividual differencereaction to errorself-directed behaviours
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , February 2010 , pp. 25 - 30
Copyright
© 2010 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baker, KC and Aureli, F 1997 Behavioural indicators of anxiety: An empirical test in chimpanzees. Behaviour 134: 1031–1050CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inoue, S and Matsuzawa, T 2007 Working memory of numerals in chimpanzees. Current Biology 17(23): R1004–R1005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Itakura, S 1993 Emotional behaviour during the learning of a contingency task in a chimpanzee. Perceptual and Motor Skills 76(2): 563–566CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kawai, N and Matsuzawa, T 2000 Numeric memory span in a chimpanzee. Nature 403: 39–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kutsukake, N 2003 Assessing relationship quality and social anxiety among wild chimpanzees using self-directed behaviour. Behaviour 140: 1153–1171CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leavens, DA, Aureli, F, Hopkins, WD and Hyatt, CW 2004 Behavioral evidence for the cutaneous expression of emotion in a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). Behaviour 141: 979–997Google Scholar
Leavens, DA, Aureli, F and Hopkins, WD 2001 Effects of cognitive challenge on self-directed behaviors by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). American Journal of Primatology 55(1): 1–14Google Scholar
Maestripieri, D, Schino, G, Aureli, F and Troisi, A 1992 A modest proposal — displacement activities as an indicator of emotions in primates. Animal Behaviour 44(5): 967–979CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, P and Bateson, P 2007 Measuring Behavior: An Introductory Guide. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UKGoogle Scholar
Matsuzawa, T 2003 The Ai project: historical and ecological contexts. Animal Cognition 6(4): 199–211CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matsuzawa, T, Tomonaga, T and Tanaka, M 2006 Cognitive Development in Chimpanzees. Springer: Tokyo, JapanCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meehan, CL and Mench, JA 2007 The challenge of challenge: Can problem solving opportunities enhance animal welfare? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 102(3-4): 246–261CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nishida, T, Kano, T, Goodall, J, McGrew, WC and Nakamura, M 1999 Ethogram and ethnography of Mahale chimpanzees. Anthropological Science 107(2): 141–188CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ochiai, T and Matsuzawa, T 1997 Planting trees in an outdoor compound of chimpanzees for an enriched environment. Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Environmental Enrichment pp 355–364. 12-17 October 1997, Orlando, Florida, USAGoogle Scholar
Plooij, F 1984 The Behavioral Development of Free-Living Chimpanzee Babies and Infants, Volume 3. Ablex: Norwood, NJ, USAGoogle Scholar
Schino, G, Perretta, G, Taglioni, AM, Monaco, V and Troisi, A 1996 Primate displacement activities as an ethopharmacological model of anxiety. Anxiety 2(4): 186–1913.0.CO;2-M>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed