Color preference and manual laterality in the emperor tamarin (Saguinus imperator)

Abstract

The current research focuses on color preference between red and green stimuli and manual laterality in the emperor tamarin (Saguinus imperator). Trichromacy in primates has been related to a foraging advantage allowing frugivore primates to distinguish ripe from unripe fruits as well to socio-sexual communication, as trichromats would be advantaged in recognizing social and sexual signals. As warm colors can affect the emotive state of the subjects, leading to the activation of one hemisphere over the other (e.g., right hemisphere), this could lead to behavioral lateralization. Thus, studying of hand preference may be relevant when testing color preference. Nine adult zoo emperor tamarins were involved and the study aimed to investigate the preference between red, green, and white cones as well as manual laterality. Tamarins were provided with pairs of red-green, red-white, and greenwhite combinations of cones. Ten 30-min sessions per combination were carried out and data on the interaction with one of the two cones of each apparatus were collected to assess subjects' color preference. We also recorded the hand used by each subject during the interaction with cones of different colors and the position of the apparatus in respect to the tamarin. We found no preferences for colored versus white cones. Similarly, we reported no group-level preferences within different color combinations, whereas individual-level preferences were found when considering all choices. Finally, we found that red cones elicited a left-hand preference, suggesting a right-hemisphere involvement in the presence of red cones. Although we do not have genetic data on trichromat and dichromat females, the tendency to use the left hand when interacting with red stimuli provides further evidence that warm colors can influence the emotive state of the perceiver, affecting their manual lateralization.

Primatology in zoos: Studying behavior, cognition, and welfare

“…This special issue includes 10 articles reporting research involving a variety of topics, methods, and species (including prosimians, monkeys, and apes). Moreover, zoos from America (e.g., Martin & Shumaker, 2022; Vonk, 2022), Europe (e.g., Laméris et al, 2022; Spiezio et al, undefined 2022), and Asia (e.g., Yamanashi et al, 2022) are represented, reflecting the global interest in zoo‐based primatological research (Hopper, 2017). While I have chosen to focus on research exploring behavior and cognition, zoos are also important forums for research on genetics, physiology, health, and welfare, and a forthcoming special issue of the American Journal of Primatology (Edes, in prep.)…”

“…Accordingly, the contributed articles in this special issue also reflect the growing use of technology to help us monitor, evaluate, and enhance primate welfare (e.g., Cairo‐Evans et al, 2022; Hayden et al, 2022; Laméris et al, 2022; Vonk, 2022; Yamanashi et al, 2022). Moreover, technological advances also offer refinements to the ways in which we can study primate behavior and cognition in zoos, via the use of touchscreens (Martin & Shumaker, 2022), eye‐tracking devices (Lewis & Krupenye, 2022), and automated behavioral monitoring systems (Hayden et al, 2022), although “physical” tasks also continue to be used to test zoo primate cognition (Motes‐Rodrigo & Tennie, 2022; Spiezio et al, 2022), as reviewed in McEwen et al ( 2022). These technological approaches offer more nuanced perspectives about the experiences of primates while also allowing for more flexible testing procedures that promote primate welfare (Hopper et al, 2021; Lewis & Krupenye, 2022; Ross et al in press).…”

“…for this special issue I wanted to invite contributions from researchers studying zoo-housed monkeys and prosimians (e.g., Cairo-Evans et al, 2022;Hayden et al, 2022;Spiezio et al, 2022) in addition to those studying apes (e.g., Laméris et al, 2022;Martin & Shumaker, 2022;Motes-Rodrigo & Tennie, 2022;Vonk, 2022;Yamanashi et al, 2022).…”