The old "monkey see, monkey do" adage may rest on some neuroscientific evidence, a new Yale study finds.
To examine how the primate brain facilitates cooperative behavior among individuals during social interaction, a team of researchers trained pairs of marmoset monkeys to cooperate in a task.
The challenge: If the monkeys pulled separate levers within one second of each other, they'd receive treat rewards. Success required astute mutual observation between both monkeys and the ability to read body language cues so they could gauge each other's readiness to act.
The result: They pulled it off.
How? By employing what the researchers have dubbed "the social gaze." Specifically, the monkeys cooperated by continuously gathering and interpreting social information. The animals especially focused on eye gaze and body movements to predict what each other was about to do.
"It's all about gathering evidence from your partner to figure out, 'Okay, is this is a great time to work together?'" said Steve Chang, an associate professor of psychology in Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences and associate professor of neuroscience tenure at Yale School of Medicine. In the work, Chang's lab collaborated with the lab of Monika Jadi, associate professor of psychiatry and neuroscience; and with the lab of Anirvan Nandy, associate professor of neuroscience and psychology. (Weikang Shi, a postdoctoral fellow in the Jadi, Chang & Nandy labs, led this work.)
