Abstract
Recognition of facial expressions by a Japanese monkey and two humans was studied. The monkey subject matched 20 photographs of monkey facial expressions and 20 photographs of human facial expressions. Humans sorted the same pictures. Matching accuracy by the monkey was about 80% correct for both human and monkey facial expressions. The confusion matrices of those facial expressions were analyzed by a multi-dimensional scaling procedure (MDSCAL). The resulting MDS plots suggested that the important cues in recognizing facial expressions of monkeys were “thrusting the mouth” and ‘raising the eyebrows.” Comparison of the MDS plots by the monkey subject with those by human subjects suggested that the monkey categorized the human “happiness” faces. This may suggest that the monkey has an ability to recognize human smile face even though it is learned. However, the monkey did not differentiate the human “anger/disgust” faces from the human “sad” faces, while human subjects clearly did. This may correlate with the lack of eyebrow movement in monkeys.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andrew, R. J., 1963. The origin and evolution of the calls and the facial expressions of the primates.Behaviour, 20: 1–109.
Bowling, N., 1964. Facial expression in primates with remarks on a parallel development in certain carnivores.Behaviour, 22: 167–192.
Chevalier-Skolnikoff, S., 1973. Facial expression of emotion in nonhuman primates. In:Darwin and Facial Expression,P. Ekman (ed.), Academic Press, New York, pp. 11–89.
Darwin, C., 1872.The Expressions of Emotions in Man and Animals. J. Murray, London.
Eible-Eibesfeldt, I., 1973. The expressive behavior of the deaf-and-blind-born. In:Social Communication and Movement,M. von Cranach &I. Vine (eds.), Academic Press, London, pp. 163–194.
Ekman, P. &W. V. Friesen, 1975.Unmasking the Face. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey.
Etocoff, N. L. &J. J. Magee, 1992. Categorical perception of facial expressions.Cognition, 44: 227–240.
Fujita, K., 1987. Species recognition by five macaque monkeys.Primates, 28: 353–366.
————, 1990. Species preference by infant macaques with controlled social experience.Int. J. Primatol., 11(6): 553–573.
————, 1993. Development of visual preference for closely related species by infant and juvenile macaques with restricted social experience.Primates, 34: 141–150.
Hasselmo, M. E., E. T. Rolls, &G. C. Baylis, 1989. The role of expression and identity in the face-selective responses of neurons in the temporal visual cortex of the monkey.Behav. Brain Res., 32: 203–218.
Keating, C. F. &E. G. Keating, 1982. Visual scan patterns of rhesus monkeys viewing faces.Perception, 11: 211–219.
———— & ————, 1993. Monkeys and mug shots: cues used by rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) to recognize a human face.J. Comp. Psychol., 107(2): 131–139.
Keys, R. C. &D. K. Candland, 1987. Baboon (Papio hamadryas) visual preference for regions of the face.J. Comp. Psychol., 101: 345–348.
Mehrabian, A., 1981.A Silent Messages. Wadsworth Publ., California.
Perrett, D. I. & A. J. Mistlin, 1990. Perception of facial characteristics by monkeys. In:Comparative Perception, Vol. 2, Complex Signals,W. C. Stebbins & M. A. Berkley (eds.), A Wiley-Interscience Publication, pp. 187–215.
Petit, O. &B. Thierry, 1992. Affiliative function of the silent bared-teeth display in moor macaques (Macaca maurus): further evidence for the particular status of Sulawesi macaques.Int. J. Primatol., 13(1): 97–105.
Preuschoft, S., 1992. “Laughter” and “smile” in barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus).Ethology, 91: 220–236.
Redican, W. K., 1975. Facial expressions in nonhuman primates. In:Primate Behavior, Vol. 4, Developments in Field and Laboratory Research,L. A. Rosenblum (ed.), Academic Press, New York & London, pp. 103–194.
Russell, J. A., 1994. Is there universal recognition of emotion from facial expression?: a review of the cross-cultural studies.Psychol. Bull., 115(1): 102–141.
———— &M. Bullock, 1985. Multidimensional scaling of emotional expressions: similarity from preschoolers to adults.J. Personal. Social Psychol., 48(5): 1290–1298.
Sands, S. F., C. E. Lincoln, &A. A. Wright, 1982. Pictorial similarity judgment and the organization of visual memory in the Rhesus monkey.J. Exp. Psychol., General, 111(4): 369–389.
Schlosberg, H., 1952. The description of facial expression in terms of two dimensions.J. Exp. Psychol., 44: 229–237.
Thierry, B., C. Demaria, S. Preuschoft, &C. Desportes, 1985. Structural convergence between silent bared-teeth display and relaxed open-mouth display in the Tonkean macaque (Macaca tonkeana).Folia Primatol., 52: 178–184.
van Hooff, J. A. R. A. M., 1967. The facial displays of catarhine monkeys and apes. In:Primate Ethology,D. Morris (ed.), Weidenfield & Nicolson, London, pp. 7–68.
————, 1972. A comparative approach to the phylogeny of laughter and smiling. In:Non-verbal Communication,R. A. Hinde (ed.), Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, pp. 209–241.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
About this article
Cite this article
Kanazawa, S. Recognition of facial expressions in a Japanese monkey (Macaca fuscata) and humans (Homo sapiens). Primates 37, 25–38 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02382917
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02382917