Cognitive underpinnings of competition in chacma baboons (Papio hamadryas ursinus).

了解不同物种的社会智力对于我们理解人类智力的进化至关重要。在鸟类、鲸目动物和灵长类动物中，复杂的社会智力似乎已经进化了几倍。然而，这种智能背后的机制可能在不同的类群中存在质的不同。需要各种物种的比较数据来检验这一假设。一些最复杂的社交智力测试使用了模拟竞争对手的实验范式。当以前没有参与的第三方与一个竞争对手形成对抗另一个竞争对手的联盟时，以及当这种联盟是短暂的并在短时间内发生变化时，对竞争对手的认知要求显著增加。我的目标是通过野外回放实验和对博茨瓦纳奥卡万戈三角洲自由活动的狒狒Papio hamadryas ursinus的行为观察，扩展目前关于灵长类动物复杂的社会智力和第三方关系的知识。我的实验将测试，第一，第三方卷入冲突是否会影响冲突伙伴随后的行为，这表明他们理解第三方的参与；第二，狒狒监控第三方关系变化的速度。我的研究结果应该会为灵长类社会关系的复杂性提供新的见解，并将为将灵长类与其他复杂的社会性物种进行比较的研究奠定基础。

Understanding social intelligence in different species is crucial to our understanding of the evolution of human intelligence. Complex social intelligence seems to have evolved several times, in birds, cetaceans and primates. The mechanisms underlying such intelligence may, however, be qualitatively different across taxa. Comparative data on a variety of species are needed to test this hypothesis. Some of the most sophisticated tests of social intelligence have used experimental paradigms that simulate competitive encounters. The cognitive demands placed on competitors increase markedly when a previously uninvolved ¿third party¿ forms an alliance with one competitor against another, and when such alliances are transient and change over short periods of time. I aim to extend current knowledge of complex social intelligence and third party relations in primates, using field playback experiments and behavioural observations of free-ranging baboons, Papio hamadryas ursinus, in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. My experiments will test, first, whether third party involvement in conflicts affects the subsequent behaviour of conflict partners in ways that suggest they understand the third party¿s involvement; and second, how quickly baboons monitor changes in third-party relationships. My results should yield new insights into the complexity of primate social relations and will form the basis for research that compares primates with other complex, socially living species.