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Science 14 August 2009:
Vol. 325. no. 5942, pp. 880 - 883
DOI: 10.1126/science.1176269
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Reports

Capuchin Monkeys Display Affiliation Toward Humans Who Imitate Them

Annika Paukner,1,* Stephen J. Suomi,1 Elisabetta Visalberghi,2 Pier F. Ferrari1,3

During social interactions, humans often unconsciously and unintentionally imitate the behaviors of others, which increases rapport, liking, and empathy between interaction partners. This effect is thought to be an evolutionary adaptation that facilitates group living and may be shared with other primate species. Here, we show that capuchin monkeys, a highly social primate species, prefer human imitators over non-imitators in a variety of ways: The monkeys look longer at imitators, spend more time in proximity to imitators, and choose to interact more frequently with imitators in a token exchange task. These results demonstrate that imitation can promote affiliation in nonhuman primates. Behavior matching that leads to prosocial behaviors toward others may have been one of the mechanisms at the basis of altruistic behavioral tendencies in capuchins and in other primates, including humans.

1 Laboratory of Comparative Ethology, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health Animal Center, Post Office Box 529, Poolesville, MD 20837, USA.
2 Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione, Via Ulisse Aldrovandi 16/b, 00197 Roma, Italy.
3 Dipartimento di Biologia Evolutiva e Funzionale, Università di Parma, Via Usberti 11/a, 43100 Parma, Italy.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: pauknera{at}mail.nih.gov

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