Doctoral Dissertation Research: Play Signaling and Play Behavior in Free-ranging Rhesus Monkeys on Cayo Santiago

该项目将通过(1)识别游戏信号（即在众所周知的游戏表情之前和预测游戏行为发生的手势）以及(2)检查特定的游戏信号是否传递特定类型的游戏信息和/或在与接收者的不同距离上使用，来调查游戏信号在减少波多黎各圣地亚哥岛自由放生的恒河猴游戏中潜在的社会风险方面的可能用途。(3)研究信号的频率和强度是否随伴侣之间的社会关系而变化，这些社会关系与玩耍将导致消极结果的风险（攻击、拒绝或母亲干预）有关。社交游戏，特别是打斗游戏，提出了一个有趣的问题，即玩家如何知道他们的伴侣的意图是好玩的，而不是攻击性的。潜在的游戏伙伴避免混淆游戏意图的一种方法是使用游戏信号。然而，许多物种都有不止一种游戏信号，而且有些游戏信号在物种内部是不同的，这就提出了一个额外的功能问题。如果游戏信号的功能仅仅是传达游戏意图，为什么动物需要各种游戏信号？不同的游戏信号是否代表不同类型的游戏，就像单词代表不同的活动或想法一样？当提出潜在的更危险的游戏类型时，猴子会发出更强烈的信号吗？一些灵长类动物，包括恒河猴，有证据表明，幼年动物会通过自我设限和拒绝高强度的游戏来调节自己的游戏行为，以避免身体或社会风险。自我设限和拒绝游戏都意味着了解高强度社交游戏的风险。在这项研究中，申请人将检查恒河猴在多大程度上理解游戏的社会风险，并灵活地使用信号来降低风险。与异性、无血缘关系的年轻伙伴玩耍（尤其是当他们的母亲在场时）比与同性、有血缘关系的同伴玩耍更有可能产生负面结果。因此，这项研究将测试信号频率和强度的变化与伴侣年龄、性别、亲和关系和/或母亲的存在有关的预测。这个项目在智力上的价值在于增加我们对灵长类动物社会认知的理解，包括表征信号、意向性、关于社会风险的知识以及使用预见来避免风险。手势信号的功能，特别是游戏信号，很少在自然组织的社会群体中进行研究。因此，它将有助于我们理解社会认知的进化。它也将提供关键的数据和假设，实验者追求在这个主题的未来研究。该项目的更广泛影响包括加强对圣地亚哥岛的研究，扩大冲突后/匹配控制方法在社会交流中的应用，并向公众、动物园工作人员和对进化和认知生态学感兴趣的大学生传播研究结果。它也将成为博士论文的基础，并为两名本地本科生提供参与研究的机会。

This project will investigate the possible use of play signals for reducing potential social risks of play in free-ranging rhesus monkeys on Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico by (1) identifying play signals (i.e., gestures that precede and predict the occurrence of play behavior) in addition to the well known play face, (2) examining whether specific play signals transmit information about specific types of play and/or are used at different distances from the receiver, and (3) examining whether signal frequency and intensity varies with aspects of the social relationship between the partners that are related to the risk that play will result in a negative outcome (aggression, refusal or maternal intervention). Social play, and particularly play fighting, poses an interesting question of how players know that their partner's intentions are playful rather than aggressive. One way for potential play partners to avoid confusion about playful intentions is through the use of play signals. However, the fact that many species have more than one play signal and that some play signals vary within species, raises an additional functional question. If the function of play signals is to merely communicate playful intent, why do animals need a variety of play signals? Could different play signals represent different types of play much like words represent different activities or ideas? Do monkeys signal more vigorously when proposing potentially more risky types of play? Some primate species, including rhesus macaques, have exhibited evidence that young animals regulate their play behavior to avoid physical or social risk by self-handicapping and by refusing high intensity play. Both self-handicapping and play refusal imply knowledge about the risks of high intensity social play. In this study, the applicant will examine the extents to which rhesus monkeys understand the social risks of play and use signals flexibly in a manner that reduces risk. Play with opposite sex, unrelated and younger partners (particularly when their mothers are present) is more likely to have a negative outcome than play with same sex, related peers. Thus this study will test the prediction that variation in signaling frequency and intensity is associated with partner age, sex, relatedness and/or the presence of mothers. The intellectual merits of this project involve increasing our understanding aspects of primate social cognition, including representational signaling, intentionality, knowledge about social risk and the use of foresight to avoid risk. The function of gestural signals, particularly play signals, has rarely been studied within the context of a naturally-organized social group. As such, it will contribute to our understanding of the evolution of social cognition. It will also provide critical data and hypotheses for experimentalists pursuing future research on this topic. The broader impacts of this project involve the enhancement of the research on Cayo Santiago, the expansion of the use of post-conflict/matched control methodology to social communication, and the dissemination of findings to the public, zoo staff, and university students interested in evolutionary and cognitive ecology. It will also form the basis of a Ph.D. dissertation and provide opportunities for research participation for two local undergraduate students.