Implicit preference for human trustworthy faces in macaque monkeys

Costa, Manuela; Gomez, Alice; Barat, Élodie; Lio, Guillaume; Duhamel, Jean‐René; Sirigu, Angela

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-06987-4

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…Another possibility is that dominance status is more important as a physical cue in New World monkeys, whereas in Old World monkeys Assertiveness rather than dominance status is a stronger predictor of fWHR variance. This fits with the findings that rhesus macaques differentiate between faces based on trustworthiness ( Costa et al 2018 ). Rhesus macaques are “despotic” ( Thierry 2000 ) and among the most intolerant of macaque species, whereas capuchins are known for being socially tolerant within their groups ( Fragaszy et al 2004 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…These findings suggest that face width could be a signal of aggressive tendencies, particularly in females, that reduces the need for conflict within species for which escalated conflict could have serious consequences ( Borgi and Majolo 2016 ). This result fits with findings that rhesus macaques can differentiate human faces of varying fWHR, looking longer at faces with lower fWHR ( Costa et al 2018 ).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 90%

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An Exploration of the Relationships Among Facial Dimensions, Age, Sex, Dominance Status, and Personality in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta)

et al. 2019

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Aspects of personality in nonhuman primates have been linked to health, social relationships, and life history outcomes. In humans as well as nonhuman primates, facial morphology is associated with assertiveness, aggression, and measures of dominance status. In this study we aimed to examine the relationship among facial morphology, age, sex, dominance status, and ratings on the personality dimensions Confidence, Openness, Assertiveness, Friendliness, Activity, and Anxiety in rhesus macaques ( Macaca mulatta ). We measured facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) and lower-height/full-height ratio (fLHFH) using photographs from 109 captive rhesus macaques, which observers also assessed for dominance status and personality, and explored the associations among facial morphology, age, sex, dominance status, and personality. fWHR and fLHFH personality associations depended on age category: Assertiveness was associated with higher fWHR and fLHFH, and Confidence was associated with lower fWHR and fLHFH, but all these associations were consistent only in individuals <8 yr. of age. We found fWHR and fLHFH to not be consistently associated with sex or dominance status; compared to younger individuals, we found few associations with fWHR and fLHFH for individuals older than 8 yr., which may be due to limited sample size. Our results indicate that in macaques <8 yr. old, facial morphology is associated with the Assertiveness and Confidence personality dimensions, which is consistent with results suggesting a relationship between fWHR and trait aggression in humans and assertiveness in brown capuchins, all of which implies that fWHR might be a cue to assertive and aggressive traits.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 90%

An Exploration of the Relationships Among Facial Dimensions, Age, Sex, Dominance Status, and Personality in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta)

et al. 2019

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“…For instance, infants have been shown to prefer trustworthy faces after only a few months of life [ 15 ]. Similarly, macaque monkeys gaze significantly longer at trustworthy human faces compared to the untrustworthy ones, as do humans [ 16 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Culture-free perceptual invariant for trustworthiness

Cristofori

Lio

et al. 2022

PLoS ONE

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Humans beings decide to trust others selectively, often based on the appearance of a face. But how do observers deal with the wide variety of facial morphologies and, in particular, those outside their own familiar cultural group? Using reverse correlation, a data-driven approach to explore how individuals create internal representations without external biases, we studied the generation of trustworthy faces by French and Chinese participants (N = 160) within and outside their own cultural group. Participants selected the most trustworthy or attractive (control condition) face from two identical European or Asian descent faces that had been modified by different noise masks. A conjunction analysis to reveal facial features common to both cultures showed that Chinese and French participants unconsciously increased the contrast of the "pupil-iris area" to make the face appear more trustworthy. No significant effects common to both groups were found for the attraction condition suggesting that attraction judgements are dependent on cultural processes. These results suggest the presence of universal cross-cultural mechanisms for the construction of implicit first impressions of trust, and highlight the importance of the eyes area in this process.

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“…Indeed, higher fWHR has been negatively related to trustworthiness and positively associated with dominance in many primate species including humans 4 , capuchins, Sapajus Cebus sp 14 , macaques, Macaca genus 18 . Recently, Japanese and rhesus macaques have been shown to display preferential attention toward human faces with lower fWHR, suggesting that macaques can form human like first impressions based on facial features 11 . Therefore, it appears that both macaques and humans may share the cognitive mechanisms required for processing social and health traits from facial morphology, supporting the idea of an honest interspecies communication.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Prior to analysis, the perceived trait, age and sex data were ranked from lowest score (1) to highest score (7), and an index of distance was used ranging from touching (0) to would not approach (11). All categorical variables were then z-transformed to improve the interpretability of the variables 58 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The importance of first impression judgements in interspecies interactions

Clark

Butler

Ritchie

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Close human-wildlife interactions are rapidly growing, particularly due to wildlife tourism popularity. Using both laboratory and ecological observation studies we explored potential interspecies communication signalling mechanisms underpinning human-animal approach behaviour, which to date have been unclear. First impression ratings (n = 227) of Barbary macaques' social and health traits were related to the macaques' facial morphology and their observed behaviour supporting a shared facial signalling system in primates. These ratings significantly predicted intended approach to the macaques during hypothetical interactions. Finally, real-world interspecies proximity was observed and found to be best predicted by the interaction between human first impression perception and animal behaviour. Specifically, perceived macaque health in interaction with actual macaque dominance drives close interactions despite human proclivity to avoid dominant animals, raising safety concerns in interspecies interactions.A growing body of evidence suggests that we automatically form first impressions of people from their faces. These first impressions are made quickly 1 , non-consciously 2 , and incidentally without instruction 3 . These first impression judgements have been shown to influence people's behaviour toward an individual, determining the initiation of positive or negative interactions 4 . For instance, dominance is considered to be a cue of a person's intentions, and a dominant person could be considered as a potential threat 5 . Although the accuracy of first impression judgements has been largely debated 5-7 , previous studies have shown that first impressions of survival-related traits, e.g. dominance, were more accurate and consistent than more subtle characteristics such as intelligence, suggesting a potential evolutionary advantage of accurate first impression judgements. First impressions are important in interactions as they allow for the prediction of future behaviour 8 , which, if these judgements are inaccurate, could lead humans to put themselves at risk. However, to date, little is known about how humans make judgements of whether and how to interact with individual non-human animals (hereafter animals), and whether these judgements are accurate.It has been suggested that humans and non-human primates (hereafter primates) have a shared personality facial signalling system, and that both species could use first impression judgements to accurately assess other primate species' social and health traits 9 . For example, naïve participants have been shown to accurately rate extraversion social traits such as dominance in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) from static, neutral faces when compared to personality ratings from the chimpanzees' keepers 9,10 . Japanese and rhesus macaques (Macaca fuscata & Macaca mulatta) have also been shown to have a visual attentional preference for 'trustworthy' human faces 11 . Indeed, morphometric measures of facial structure such as the facial width to height ratio (fWHR) has been e...

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Implicit preference for human trustworthy faces in macaque monkeys

Cited by 10 publications

References 63 publications

An Exploration of the Relationships Among Facial Dimensions, Age, Sex, Dominance Status, and Personality in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta)

An Exploration of the Relationships Among Facial Dimensions, Age, Sex, Dominance Status, and Personality in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta)

Culture-free perceptual invariant for trustworthiness

The importance of first impression judgements in interspecies interactions

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