Age-related variation in physical and social cognition in Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus)

巴巴里猕猴（Macaca sylvanus）身体和社会认知的年龄相关变化

• 批准号: 360742713
• 负责人: Professorin Dr. Julia Fischer
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Deutsches Primatenzentrum GmbH - Leibniz-Institut für Primatenforschung (DPZ)
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2016-12-31 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/360742713?language=en
• 关键词: Age; related; variation; physical; social

By 2050, a fifth of the world's human population will be over 60 years old. Because of the enormous impact on society, the physiological basis of aging, as well as the causes of cognitive decline, including Alzheimer's disease and dementia, have been at the core of major research programmes for several decades. More recently, general changes in the motivational disposition of aging individuals, as well as the consequences for the social fabric of a society have attracted increasing attention. In the proposed study, we take a comparative perspective to investigate the biological basis of social and cognitive aging processes. We will conduct behavioural observations and cognitive tests in Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) at the monkey enclosure La Foret des Singes in France. Building on previous work (Almeling et al. 2016, Curr Biol), where we revealed decreasing performance in problem solving, as well as shifts in social preferences with age in this species, we here aim to investigate the foundations of these effects in more detail. Specifically, we aim to conduct a series of cognitive tests with the same study group of Barbary macaques, to assess variation in inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and persistence with age. In addition, we aim to test whether old monkeys show a positivity effect (as humans do), i.e. a preference for positive stimuli and interactions. To this end, we will present the monkeys with pictures of affiliative and agonistic facial expressions; further, we will record the exchange of social signals in interactions. These behavioural observations will also allow us to explore age-related variation in social network size and structure in males, which have not been studied in this context. Our study has the potential to provide important comparative data for a better understanding of social and cognitive aging, and to further forge ties between evolutionary biology and human life-span research.

到 2050 年，世界人口的五分之一将超过 60 岁。由于对社会的巨大影响，衰老的生理基础以及认知能力下降的原因（包括阿尔茨海默氏病和痴呆症）几十年来一直是主要研究项目的核心。最近，老年人动机倾向的普遍变化以及对社会结构的影响引起了越来越多的关注。在拟议的研究中，我们采用比较的角度来研究社会和认知衰老过程的生物学基础。我们将对法国 La Foret des Singes 猴舍的巴巴利猕猴（Macaca sylvanus）进行行为观察和认知测试。在之前的工作（Almeling 等人，2016，Curr Biol）的基础上，我们揭示了该物种解决问题的能力下降，以及社会偏好随着年龄的增长而变化，我们在此旨在更详细地研究这些影响的基础。具体来说，我们的目标是对同一研究组的巴巴里猕猴进行一系列认知测试，以评估抑制控制、认知灵活性和持久性随年龄的变化。此外，我们的目的是测试老猴子是否表现出积极效应（就像人类一样），即对积极刺激和互动的偏好。为此，我们将向猴子展示亲和和对抗的面部表情图片；进一步，我们会记录交互中社交信号的交换。这些行为观察还将使我们能够探索男性社交网络规模和结构与年龄相关的变化，而这在这方面尚未进行过研究。我们的研究有可能为更好地理解社会和认知衰老提供重要的比较数据，并进一步在进化生物学和人类寿命研究之间建立联系。