First evidence of contagious yawning in a wild lemur

Valente, Daria; Torti, Valeria; Gregorio, Chiara De; Gamba, Marco; Carugati, Filippo; Miaretsoa, Longondraza; Pavoni, Francesca; Raimondi, Teresa; Ratsimbazafy, Jonah; Giacoma, Cristina; Norscia, Ivan

doi:10.1007/s00265-022-03284-5

Cited by 7 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 91 publications

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“…Taken together, this and our findings support the possibility that within the Primate order, the evolutionary origins of motor mimicry and contagion may pre-date the separation between Platyrrhini and Catharrini parvorders. Indeed, yawn contagion has been recently demonstrated in wild Strepsirhine (Indri indri; Valente et al, 2023), which further bolsters this scenario.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Taken together, this and our findings support the possibility that within the Primate order, the evolutionary origins of motor mimicry and contagion may pre‐date the separation between Platyrrhini and Catharrini parvorders. Indeed, yawn contagion has been recently demonstrated in wild Strepsirhine ( Indri indri ; Valente et al, 2023), which further bolsters this scenario. Expanding our perspective, given that RFM has been demonstrated in some Carnivora species such as meerkats (Palagi, Marchi, et al, 2019), sun bears (Taylor et al, 2019), and domestic dogs (Palagi et al, 2015), it is likely that the evolutionary roots of this form of motor replication and (potentially) emotional contagion might extend beyond the split between Primates and other mammalian orders.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

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Rapid facial mimicry in Platyrrhini: Play face replication in spider monkeys (Ateles fusciceps, Ateles hybridus, and Ateles paniscus)

Cordoni,

Ciantia,

Guéry

et al. 2024

American J Primatol

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Rapid facial mimicry (RFM), the rapid and automatic replication of facial expression perceived, is considered a basic form of empathy and was investigated mainly during play. RFM occurs in Catarrhini (Old World primates), but it is not still demonstrated in Platyrrhini (New World primates). For this reason, we collected video data on playful interactions (Nplay_interactions = 149) in three species of spider monkeys (Ateles fusciceps—N = 11, Ateles hybridus—N = 14, and Ateles paniscus—N = 6) housed at La Vallée des Singes and the ZooParc de Beauval (France). For the first time, we demonstrated the occurrence of RFM in Platyrrhini (analyzing 175 events). Players' sex, age, species, relationship quality, and kinship did not modulate RFM probably due to the species' complex fission–fusion dynamics and flexible interindividual social relationships. Compared to the absence of any playful expressions or the presence of only not replicated play face, RFM prolonged the session duration and was sequentially associated with more types of more intense offensive playful patterns (patterns aimed at attacking/pursuing the playmate). We proposed that RFM may favor synchronization and context sharing between players, thus decreasing the risk of behavior misinterpretation while simultaneously fostering a more competitive nature of play. In conclusion, this study stimulates additional research on the evolutionary origins of motor mimicry in primates, possibly dating back to before the divergence of New and Old World monkeys. Furthermore, it also points toward the possibility that RFM may not always lead to cooperation but also to competition, depending on the context and species' social and cognitive features.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Rapid facial mimicry in Platyrrhini: Play face replication in spider monkeys (Ateles fusciceps, Ateles hybridus, and Ateles paniscus)

Cordoni,

Ciantia,

Guéry

et al. 2024

American J Primatol

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“…model), so that the behavior can spread among individuals [10][11] . From a functional perspective, behavioral contagion might increase individual tness by facilitating individuals' synchronization, which can in turn foster group coordination and effective defense against predators [12][13] . While spontaneous yawning and scratching are common, contagious yawning and scratching seem to be present in only few species 14 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…spider monkeys, Ateles geoffroyi) 33 and Strepsirrhines (i.e. indri lemurs, Indri indri) 13 . In Strepsirrhines, in particular, behavioral contagion has long been thought to be absent.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the rst study on lemurs, Reddy and colleagues (2016) 17 detected no contagious yawning in ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) and red ruffed lemurs (Varecia rubra), when using video stimuli as trigger events, and suggested that contagious yawning might have evolved in the common ancestor of Catarrhines and Platyrrhines after the lineage split from Strepsirrhines. However, Valente and colleagues (2022) 13 recently found evidence of contagious yawning in wild indri lemurs, with individuals being more likely to yawn after observing a trigger event.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evidence of behavioral contagion in captive black-and-white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata) and red ruffed lemurs (Varecia rubra)

Lemes,

Amici

2024

Preprint

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Behavioral contagion is thought to have a significant role in social synchronization and coordination across animal taxa. While there is extensive evidence of behavioral contagion in Haplorrhines (i.e. monkeys and apes), limited research exists in Strepsirrhines (i.e. lemurs). Here, we aimed to investigate the presence of contagious yawning and scratching in two captive groups of black-and-white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata) (N = 4) and red ruffed lemurs (Varecia rubra) (N = 4), and further test whether behavioral contagion is modulated by the model’s dominance rank. We conducted all occurrence sampling to examine whether individuals observing a yawning or scratching event (i.e. trigger event) were more likely to yawn or scratch in the following 2 minutes, as compared to individuals who did not observe it. We ran generalized linear mixed models and found that the likelihood of yawning and scratching was higher for individuals observing the trigger event than for individuals who did not observe the event, although the model’s dominance rank had no modulating effect on the probability of showing behavioral contagion. Our findings represent the first evidence of behavioral contagion in this genus and contribute to shed light on the distribution and the possible adaptive function of this phenomenon in primates.

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Beware! Different methods lead to divergent results on yawn contagion modulation in bonobos

De Vittoris,

Caselli,

Demuru

et al. 2024

American J Primatol

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Contagious yawning (CY)—linked to physiological synchronization and possibly emotional contagion—occurs when one individual's yawn induces yawning in others. CY was investigated over different time windows (minutes from the triggering stimulus) via naturalistic or experimental studies (using real and video yawns, respectively) with contrasting results, especially in bonobos. We verified whether in bonobos result divergences may derive from different methods. We gathered yawning data on 13 bonobos at Twycross Zoo (UK) via a naturalistic (all‐occurrences observations) and experimental approach (by showing yawn/control video stimuli). Based on literature, we used 1‐ and 3‐min windows to detect CY. Due to fission‐fusion management, individuals could form permanent or non‐permanent associations (more/less familiar subjects under naturalistic setting). Video yawn stimuli may come from group mates/stranger models (more/less familiar subjects under the experimental setting). Stimulus type and time window affected CY modulating factors but not CY detection. Familiarity and age effect on CY showed opposite trends in 3‐min trials and 1‐min observations. CY was highest in oldest, non‐permanently (rather than permanently) associated subjects in the naturalistic setting, but in the youngest subjects and with ingroup (rather than outgroup) models in trials. The age effect differences on CY might be due to decontextualized yawns and immature subject curiosity toward videos. The reversed familiarity effect suggests CY's context‐dependent function in promoting social synchronization with socially distant group mates, as failing to coordinate as a group may lead to social disruption. Complementary methods are needed to fully understand motor replication phenomena.

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First evidence of contagious yawning in a wild lemur

Cited by 7 publications

References 91 publications

Rapid facial mimicry in Platyrrhini: Play face replication in spider monkeys (Ateles fusciceps, Ateles hybridus, and Ateles paniscus)

Rapid facial mimicry in Platyrrhini: Play face replication in spider monkeys (Ateles fusciceps, Ateles hybridus, and Ateles paniscus)

Evidence of behavioral contagion in captive black-and-white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata) and red ruffed lemurs (Varecia rubra)

Beware! Different methods lead to divergent results on yawn contagion modulation in bonobos

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