Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Visual preferences for sex and status in female rhesus macaques

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Animal Cognition Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Most primates are both highly visual and highly social. These qualities predict that visual cues to social variables, such as identity, sex, social status, and reproductive quality, would be intrinsically valuable and systematically attract attention. Supporting this idea, thirsty male rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) will forego fluid reward to view images of the faces of high-ranking males and the sexual skin of females. Whether female rhesus macaques, who experience dramatically different social pressures and reproductive costs than male macaques, also systematically and spontaneously value visual cues to social information remains untested experimentally. We probed the preferences of female rhesus macaques, given the opportunity to display an image from a known class of social stimuli or touch a second target to display a blank screen. We found that females preferred faces of high-status males and also images of the perinea of both males and females, but were not motivated to display images of subordinate males or control stimuli. These findings endorse the view that both male and female rhesus macaques—and presumably other highly social primates—seek information about other individuals in a way that matches the adaptive value of that information for guiding social behavior.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aharon I, Etcoff N, Ariely D, Chabris CF, O’Connor E, Breiter HC (2001) Beautiful faces have variable reward value: fMRI and behavioral evidence. Neuron 32(3):537–551

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Allman JM (2000) Evolving brains. W.H. Freeman, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Altmann J (1974) Observational study of behavior—sampling methods. Behaviour 49(3–4):227–267

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Andrews M, Rosenblum L (1993) Live-social-video reward maintains joystick task performance in bonnet macaques. Percept Motor Skills 77:755–763

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barton R (1998) Visual specialization and brain evolution in primates. Proc R Soc B Biol Sci 265(1409):1933

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Baulu J (1976) Seasonal sex skin coloration and hormonal fluctuations in free-ranging and captive monkeys. Horm Behav 7(4):481–494

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bergman TJ, Ho L, Beehner JC (2009) Chest color and social status in Male Geladas (Theropithecus gelada). Int J Primatol 30(6):791–806. doi:10.1007/s10764-009-9374-x

    Google Scholar 

  • Brannon EM, Andrews MW, Rosenblum LA (2004) Effectiveness of video of conspecifics as a reward for socially housed bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata). Percept Motor Skills 98(3):849–858

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Busse CD (1984) Tail raising by baboon mothers toward immigrant males. Am J Phys Anthropol 64(3):255–262

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chapais B (1983) Matriline membership and male rhesus reaching high ranks in the natal troop. In: Hinde RA (ed) Primate social relationships: an integrated approach. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, pp 171–175

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapais B (1986) Why do adult male and female rhesus monkeys affiliate during the birth season? In: Rawlins R, Kessler M (eds) The Cayo Santiago macaques. SUNY Press, Albany, pp 173–200

    Google Scholar 

  • Deaner RO, Platt ML (2003) Reflexive social attention in monkeys and humans. Curr Biol 13(18):1609–1613. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2003.08.025

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Deaner RO, Khera AV, Platt ML (2005) Monkeys pay per view: adaptive valuation of social images by rhesus macaques. Curr Biol 15(6):543–548

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Deelvira MCR, Herndon JG (1986) Disruption of sexual-behavior by high ranking rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Behaviour 96:227–240

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fairbanks LA, McGuire MT (1987) Mother infant relationships in vervet monkeys—response to new adult males. Int J Primatol 8(4):351–366

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fechner G (1966) Elements of psychophysics. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gachot-Neveu H, Menard N (2004) Gene flow, dispersal patterns, and social organization. In: Thierry B, Singh M, Kaumanns W (eds) Macaque societies: a model for the study of social organization. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 135–150

    Google Scholar 

  • Hariri AR, Holmes A (2006) Genetics of emotional regulation: the role of the serotonin transporter in neural function. Trends Cogn Sci 10(4):182–191. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2006.02.011

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hattori Y, Kano F, Tomonaga M (2010) Differential sensitivity to conspecific and allospecific cues in chimpanzees and humans: a comparative eye-tracking study. Biol Lett 6(5):610–613

    Google Scholar 

  • Hauser MD (1993) Rhesus-monkey copulation calls—honest signals for female choice. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 254(1340):93–96

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hayden BY, Parikh PC, Deaner RO, Platt ML (2007) Economic principles motivating social attention in humans. Proc Biol Sci 274:1751–1756

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman CL, Ruiz-Lambides AV, Davila E, Maldonado E, Gerald MS, Maestripieri D (2008) Sex differences in survival costs of reproduction in a promiscuous primate. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 62(11):1711–1718. doi:10.1007/s00265-008-0599-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson MH, Dziurawiec S, Ellis H, Morton J (1991) Newborns’ preferential tracking of face-like stimuli and its subsequent decline. Cognition 40(1–2):1–19

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kaufmann JH (1965) A 3-year study of mating-behavior in a freeranging band of rhesus-monkeys. Ecology 46(4):500–512

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein JT, Deaner RO, Platt ML (2008) Neural correlates of social target value in macaque parietal cortex. Curr Biol 18(6):419–424. doi:10.1016/J.Cub.2008.02.047

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kobayashi S, de Carvalho OP, Schultz W (2010) Adaptation of reward sensitivity in orbitofrontal neurons. J Neurosci 30(2):534–544. doi:10.1523/jneurosci.4009-09.2010

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lindburg D (1983) Mating behavior and estrus in the Indian rhesus monkey. In: Seth PR (ed) Perspectives on primate biology. Today and Tomorrow, New Delhi, pp 45–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Manson JH (1992) Measuring female mate choice in Cayo-Santiago rhesus macaques. Anim Behav 44(3):405–416

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manson JH (1994) Male-aggression—a cost of female mate choice in Cayo-Santiago Rhesus macaques. Anim Behav 48(2):473–475

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Padoa-Schioppa C (2009) Range-adapting representation of economic value in the orbitofrontal cortex. J Neurosci 29(44):14004–14014. doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3751-09.2009

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sackett GP (1990) Sires influence fetal death in pigtailed macaques (Macaca-nemestrina). Am J Primatol 20(1):13–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Setchell JM (2005) Do female mandrills prefer brightly colored males? Int J Primatol 26(4):715–735. doi:10.1007/s10764-005-5305-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shepherd SV, Platt ML (2008) Spontaneous social orienting and gaze following in ringtailed lemurs (Lemur catta). Anim Cogn 11(1):13–20. doi:10.1007/s10071-007-0083-6

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith DG (1981) The association between rank and reproductive success of male rhesus monkeys. Am J Primatol 1(1):83–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Smuts B (1987) Sexual competition and mate choice. In: Smuts B, Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM, Wrangham R, Struhsaker T (eds) Primate societies. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 385–399

    Google Scholar 

  • Soltis J (2004) Mating systems. In: Thierry B, Singh M, Kaumanns W (eds) Macaque societies: a model for the study of social organization. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 135–150

    Google Scholar 

  • Sugita Y (2008) Face perception in monkeys reared with no exposure to faces. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105(1):394–398. doi:10.1073/pnas.0706079105

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Van Essen DC, Anderson CH, Felleman DJ (1992) Information processing in the primate visual system: an integrated systems perspective. Science 255(5043):419–423

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waitt C, Buchanan-Smith HM (2006) Perceptual considerations in the use of colored photographic and video stimuli to study nonhuman primate behavior. Am J Primatol 68(11):1054–1067. doi:10.1002/ajp.20303

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waitt C, Little AC (2006) Preferences for symmetry in conspecific facial shape among Macaca mulatta. Int J Primatol 27(1):133–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waitt C, Little AC, Wolfensohn S, Honess P, Brown AP, Buchanan-Smith HM, Perrett DI (2003) Evidence from rhesus macaques suggests that male coloration plays a role in female primate mate choice. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 270:S144–S146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson KK, Ghodasra JH, Platt ML (2009). Serotonin transporter genotype modulates social reward and punishment in rhesus macaques. PLoS ONE 4(1):e4156. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004156

  • Wrangham RW (1979) Evolution of ape social-systems. Soc Sci Inf Sci Soc 18(3):335–368

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by an RO1 from the National Institutes of Health to MLP (303 8366). KKW was supported in part by the Cure Autism Now Foundation and by a National Institutes of Health Training Grant in Fundamental and Translational Neuroscience. JHG was supported in part by a Howard Hughes Undergraduate Research Fellowship.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    Karli K. Watson & Michael L. Platt

  2. Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Jason H. Ghodasra

  3. Department of Public Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Melissa A. Furlong

  4. 450 Research Drive, LSRC Room B-203, Box 90999, Durham, NC, 27708, USA

    Karli K. Watson

  5. 303 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA

    Jason H. Ghodasra

  6. Box 90239, Durham, NC, 27708-0239, USA

    Melissa A. Furlong

  7. 450 Research Drive, LSRC Room B-203, Box 90999, Durham, NC, 27708, USA

    Michael L. Platt

Authors
  1. Karli K. Watson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jason H. Ghodasra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Melissa A. Furlong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Michael L. Platt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Karli K. Watson.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Watson, K.K., Ghodasra, J.H., Furlong, M.A. et al. Visual preferences for sex and status in female rhesus macaques. Anim Cogn 15, 401–407 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-011-0467-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-011-0467-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation