Effects of food preferences on token exchange and behavioural responses to inequality in tufted capuchin monkeys, Cebus apella
Section snippets
Subjects
The subjects were five laboratory-bred female capuchins, Cebus apella, aged 3.5 to 21 years at the start of experiment 1. The animals were fed monkey chow twice per day and received water ad libitum. They received fresh fruit five times per week. Animals were fed their normal evening rations and received their morning rations after testing was completed. All animals were pair-housed either with a male or their offspring in the same colony room. This study was conducted in compliance with
Social Dominance
The results of our dominance tests (Table 3, Table 4) indicate that females do establish dominance when placed together in a competitive situation where a preferred food reward is available. Dominance was established between the two capuchin females almost immediately and with minimal overt aggression from the dominant female to the more subordinate female.
Based on the results of the dominance trials prior to experiment 1, we determined that the order of hierarchy from dominant to subordinate
Discussion
Brosnan & de Waal (2003) reported that capuchins decrease the exchange rate when a partner receives a preferred food item relative to their own, particularly if the work effort is inequitable (i.e. no effort is required from the partner). Based on these findings, Brosnan & de Waal (2003) suggested that capuchin monkeys ‘measure reward in relative terms, comparing their own rewards with those available, and their own efforts with those of others’ (page 299). Moreover, they suggested that the
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank Amy Dupuy, Michelle Grisham, Mandi Wilkes, Destiny M. Galentine and Jessica L. McGettigan for technical assistance. We are grateful for the support of Jeff Rowell, DVM, Director of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette-New Iberia Research Center.
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2017, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral ReviewsCitation Excerpt :In a seminal study, female (but not male) capuchin monkeys refused food rewards and stopped participating in a token exchange task when they observed how a conspecific received higher value food rewards for engaging in the same activity (Brosnan and de Waal, 2003). This effect was particularly pronounced when the subject had to work harder (i.e. exchange more tokens) for a lower-value reward compared to the partner (van Wolkenten et al., 2007, but see Fontenot et al., 2007). Extending these findings, in the prosocial choice task, capuchins prefer a prosocial choice to a selfish one, but only if the subject and its partner receive equal rewards (de Waal et al., 2008).
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S. L. Watson is at the University of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Dr., Box 5025, Hattiesburg, MS 39406, U.S.A.