COOPERATIVE COGNITION IN COOPERATIVELY BREEDING SPECIES

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. To study the nature and mechanisms of social transfer of information in a cooperatively breeding species. Cooperatively breeding primates must divide effort between infant care, vigilance, group defense, and foraging. Individuals within groups engage in each of these roles. Successful coordination of within group behavior for successful infant care requires clear communication and attention to others. Does this behavioral coordination lead to social facilitation of cognitive skills as well? In cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) we have shown that monkeys attend to vocal and visual signals to avoid a highly preferred familiar food suddenly made noxious with the addition of white pepper, providing one of the only demonstrations of social learning to avoid foods in primates. Furthermore, tamarins in the presence of their mate learn a novel task to find food significantly faster than individual learners acquire the task. Tamarins rapidly demonstrated cooperation when the simultaneous actions of two monkeys were needed to solve a task, but when tested alone, they inhibited responses suggesting an understanding of the cooperative task. A longitudinal study on the relationship between food offering, tolerated begging and infant skill level with foods that are either familiar or novel to the infant suggests that adults engage in rudimerntary "teaching" of infants about food. We discovered a novel tool use behavior in tamarins that is seen in a subset of the colony. We have demonstrated that some non-tool-using animals acquire the skill through spontaneous observation of mates. Finally, we have shown long term retention of social learning (up to 3 years). Collectively, these studies suggest an impressive ability for social learning and information transfer in Callitrichids comparable to or even beyond that of great apes. The biological and behavioral mechanisms leading to cooperative care of infants appear to be linked with cooperative cognition. This research relied on WNPRC Library and Information Services. JOURNAL ARTICLE (No PMID assigned): Cronin, K. A., Kurian, A. V. & Snowdon, C. T. Cooperative problem solving in a cooperatively-breeding primate, the cotton-top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus). Animal Behaviour. 69: 133-142. 2005. OTHER: Snowdon, C. T. Development of communication in animals, In K. Brown (ed), Encyclopedia for Language and Linguistics, Second Edition Vol 3, pp 500-503, Elsevier. 2005.