Comparative Developmental Psychology: How is Human Cognitive Development Unique?

Rosati, Alexandra G.; Wobber, Victoria; Hughes, Kelly D.; Santos, Laurie R.

doi:10.1177/147470491401200211

Cited by 50 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 177 publications

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“…Comparisons of cognitive development across species are a powerful method for understanding how cognition evolves, as shifts in development are thought to be a potential evolutionary mechanism for generating variation in mature traits across species (Rosati, Wobber, Hughes, & Santos, 2014; Wobber, Herrmann, Hare, Wrangham, & Tomasello, 2013). Our results demonstrate that social attention declines with age in despotic rhesus macaques relative to tolerant Barbary macaques, paralleling shifts in tolerance in the transition to adulthood seen in primates more generally (Pereira & Fairbanks, 2002; Wobber et al, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tolerant Barbary macaques maintain juvenile levels of social attention in old age, but despotic rhesus macaques do not

Rosati

Santos

2017

Animal Behaviour

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Complex social life is thought to be a major driver of complex cognition in primates, but few studies have directly tested the relationship between a given primate species’ social system and their social cognitive skills. We experimentally compared life span patterns of a foundational social cognitive skill (following another’s gaze) in tolerant Barbary macaques, Macaca sylvanus, and despotic rhesus macaques, Macaca mulatta. Semi-free-ranging monkeys (N = 80 individuals from each species) followed gaze more in test trials where an actor looked up compared to control trials. However, species differed in ontogenetic trajectories: both exhibited high rates of gaze following as juveniles, but rhesus monkeys exhibited declines in social attention with age, whereas Barbary macaques did not. This pattern indicates that developmental patterns of social attention vary with social tolerance, and that diversity in social behaviour can lead to differences in social cognition across primates.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tolerant Barbary macaques maintain juvenile levels of social attention in old age, but despotic rhesus macaques do not

Rosati

Santos

2017

Animal Behaviour

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“…Despite our shared biological endowment, humans are quite different from other primates—humans have larger brains, use sophisticated technology, and engage in extensive cooperative endeavors. Identifying the reasons that humans show these salient differences is of fundamental importance not just in psychology and the social sciences, but in philosophy and biology as well (Hare 2011, Herrmann et al 2007, Hill et al 2009, Rosati et al 2014, Sterelny 2012, Tomasello et al 2005). However, for psychologists interested in the nature of human decision-making biases, the question of uniqueness has a different character.…”

Section: Are Human Biases Shared With Other Primates?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Evolutionary Roots of Human Decision Making

Santos

Rosati

2015

Annu. Rev. Psychol.

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Humans exhibit a suite of biases when making economic decisions. We review recent research on the origins of human decision making by examining whether similar choice biases are seen in nonhuman primates, our closest phylogenetic relatives. We propose that comparative studies can provide insight into four major questions about the nature of human choice biases that cannot be addressed by studies of our species alone. First, research with other primates can address the evolution of human choice biases and identify shared versus human-unique tendencies in decision making. Second, primate studies can constrain hypotheses about the psychological mechanisms underlying such biases. Third, comparisons of closely related species can identify when distinct mechanisms underlie related biases by examining evolutionary dissociations in choice strategies. Finally, comparative work can provide insight into the biological rationality of economically irrational preferences.

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“…However, much less is known about the developmental time course over which these skills emerge in non-human animals. Comparative studies of cognitive development in other species can address the origin of human-like social capacities, such as what sorts of experiences are necessary for these skills to emerge [23][24][25][26]. For example, the acquisition of co-orienting responses may depend on strongly canalized developmental pathways that generally emerge in primates living in social groups of a certain complexity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rhesus monkeys show human-like changes in gaze following across the lifespan

et al. 2016

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Gaze following, or co-orienting with others, is a foundational skill for human social behaviour. The emergence of this capacity scaffolds critical humanspecific abilities such as theory of mind and language. Non-human primates also follow others' gaze, but less is known about how the cognitive mechanisms supporting this behaviour develop over the lifespan. Here we experimentally tested gaze following in 481 semi-free-ranging rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) ranging from infancy to old age. We found that monkeys began to follow gaze in infancy and this response peaked in the juvenile periodsuggesting that younger monkeys were especially attuned to gaze information, like humans. After sexual maturity, monkeys exhibited human-like sex differences in gaze following, with adult females showing more gaze following than males. Finally, older monkeys showed reduced propensity to follow gaze, just as older humans do. In a second study (n ¼ 80), we confirmed that macaques exhibit similar baseline rates of looking upwards in a control condition, regardless of age. Our findings indicate that-despite important differences in human and non-human primate life-history characteristics and typical social experiences-monkeys undergo robust ontogenetic shifts in gaze following across early development, adulthood and ageing that are strikingly similar to those of humans.

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Comparative Developmental Psychology: How is Human Cognitive Development Unique?

Cited by 50 publications

References 177 publications

Tolerant Barbary macaques maintain juvenile levels of social attention in old age, but despotic rhesus macaques do not

Tolerant Barbary macaques maintain juvenile levels of social attention in old age, but despotic rhesus macaques do not

The Evolutionary Roots of Human Decision Making

Rhesus monkeys show human-like changes in gaze following across the lifespan

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