Red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus) adapt their interspecific gestural communication to the recipient’s behaviour

Abstract

Sensitivity to recipient’s attention and responsiveness are critical markers of intentional communication. Although previous research showed that ape gestures can be intentional, few studies have yet addressed this question concerning monkeys. Here, we characterise the effect of a recipient’s presence, attentional state and responsiveness on the interspecific gestural communication of captive red-capped mangabeys ( Cercocebus torquatus ). Previous reports showed that they produced learnt begging gestures towards a human recipient preferentially when the latter was facing them. We used here a novel setup that allows subjects to move around an experimenter and to use different modalities (visual and acoustic) to communicate. We found that when the recipient was not facing them, mangabeys moved to a position in the visual field of their recipient rather than using attention-getters. Interestingly, unlike apes, they did not elaborate their communication visually or acoustically when the experimenter did not respond favourably to their begging. However, our results may suggest that begging gestures were goal-directed, since mangabeys inhibited them when the experimenter was not available to answer immediately (i.e. give a reward). Overall, red-capped mangabeys’ interspecific visual communication presented intentionality features, but their use of begging gestures was less flexible than that of great apes in similar situations.

Intentional gestural communication amongst red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus)

“…they show first-order intentionality (Dennett 1983;Hurford 2007). A similar experimental setup was recently used in the same captive population of red-capped mangabeys as investigated in our study (Aychet et al 2020). The study showed that the individuals of our study group were capable of this communicative capacity as well.…”

“…In this study, therefore, we particularly focussed on determining whether or not captive red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus), a monkey species of the cercopithecoid superfamily of catarrhine primates that has been used as a model species in both vocal and gestural communication studies before (Maille et al 2012;Bouchet et al 2013;Aychet et al 2020), made intentional and flexible use of gestures during their communicative interactions with conspecifics. We did this rigorously and from scratch, by assessing whether they showed all markers of intentionality during the spontaneous production of any of their potentially communicative body acts.…”

Facial displays in red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus): Repertoire, social context, and potential intentionality.

“…Based on these indices, the intentionality of great apes’ communication gestures has been admitted, notably from Tomasello et al (1994)’s work on chimpanzee sensitivity to the receiver’s attentional state when gesturing, followed by numerous field and lab studies on great apes (see, for reviews, Byrne et al, 2017; Call & Tomasello, 2007; Liebal et al, 2014c). Intentional gestures have been explored recently in monkey species such as macaques ( Macaca mulatta , tonkeana , and radiata , Canteloup, Bovet, & Meunier, 2015a, 2015b; Deshpande, Gupta, & Sinha, 2018; Gupta & Sinha, 2019), olive baboons ( Papio anubis , Bourjade et al, 2014; Meunier et al, 2013; Molesti et al, 2020), red-capped mangabeys ( Cercocebus torquatus, Aychet et al, 2020; Maille et al, 2012; Schel et al, 2020), squirrel monkeys ( Saimiri sciureus , Anderson, Kuroshima, Hattori, & Fujita, 2010). However, studies of potential intentionality markers accompanying the production of primates’ facial expressions are still rare.…”

“…Their gestural communication has been described recently (Schel et al, 2020), and suggests, together with data on their multimodal interactions (Baraud, Deputte, Pierre, & Blois-Heulin, 2016), a wide use of visual signals for communication. Experimental studies highlighted the ability of red-capped mangabeys to use a learnt begging gesture intentionally, as a function of visual attentional state of a human receiver (Aychet et al, 2020; Maille et al, 2012). Moreover, spontaneous intraspecific gestures produced by red-capped mangabeys were associated with key-markers of intentional communication (Schel et al, 2020).…”

Theory of Mind in Nonhuman Primates

“…Monkeys and apes also selectively choose a reward that is not audible to a competitor over one that is noisy to access, and integrate information about what a competitor can see and hear; that is, they show a preference for a silent reward only when the competitor cannot already see them (Melis et al, 2006b;Santos et al, 2006). In addition, monkeys and great apes consider a recipient's orientation for communication, positioning themselves within a recipient's visual plane before beginning a gesture or collaborative act, or selecting auditory versus visual communication depending on whether the recipient was oriented toward or away from them (Anderson et al, 2010;Aychet et al, 2020;Botting & Bastian, 2019;Bourjade et al, 2014;Josep Call & Tomasello, 1994;Canteloup et al, 2015;Grueneisen et al, 2017;Hattori et al, 2006Hattori et al, , 2009Hostetter et al, 2001;Kaminski, 2011;Kaminski et al, 2004;Leavens et al, 2004;Liebal et al, 2004;Maille et al, 2012;Tempelmann et al, 2011). Chimpanzees also understand that an agent's choices will reflect his preferences only when he can see (Eckert et al, 2018).…”