Capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) respond to video images of themselves

Citation

Anderson J, Kuroshima H, Paukner A & Fujita K (2009) Capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) respond to video images of themselves. Animal Cognition, 12 (1), pp. 55-62. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-008-0170-3

Abstract
Many studies have used mirror-image stimulation in attempts to find self-recognition in monkeys. However, very few studies have presented monkeys with video images of themselves; the present study is the first to do so with capuchin monkeys. Six tufted capuchin monkeys were individually exposed to live face-on and side-on video images of themselves (experimental Phase 1). Both video screens initially elicited considerable interest. Two adult males looked preferentially at their face-on image, whereas two adult females looked preferentially at their side-on image; the latter elicited lateral movements and head-cocking. Only males showed communicative facial expressions, which were directed towards the face-on screen. In Phase 2 monkeys discriminated between real-time, face-on images and identical images delayed by 1 s, with the adult females especially preferring real-time images. In this phase both screens elicited facial expressions, shown by all monkeys. In Phase 3 there was no evidence of discrimination between previously recorded video images of self and similar images of a familiar conspecific. Although they showed no signs of explicit self-recognition, the monkeys’ behaviour strongly suggests recognition of the correspondence between kinaesthetic information and external visual effects. In species such as humans and great apes, this type of self-awareness feeds into a system that gives rise to explicit self-recognition.

Keywords
Capuchin; Video; Mirror; Self-recognition; Self-awareness; Visual preference; Facial expressions; Picture perception; Monkeys Physiology; Perception in animals; Animal behavior Research

Journal
Animal Cognition: Volume 12, Issue 1