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I acknowledge your help: capuchin monkeys’ sensitivity to others’ labor

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Abstract

Our society is sustained by wide-ranging cooperation. If individuals are sensitive to others’ gains and losses as well as the amount of labor, they can ensure future beneficial cooperative interaction. However, it is still an open question whether nonhuman primates are sensitive to others’ labor. We asked this question in tufted capuchin monkeys in an experimental food-sharing situation by comparing conditions with labor by two participants equalized (Equal labor condition) or unequalized (Unequal labor condition). The operator monkey pulled the drawer of one of the two food containers placed between two monkeys, each containing a food for him/herself and another for the recipient monkey. The recipient received either high- or low-value food depending on the operator’s choice, whereas the operator obtained the same food regardless of his/her choice. In Unequal labor condition, the operator first had to pull the handle of the board to which the containers were glued and then pull the drawer of one of the containers, while the recipient received food with no labor. In Equal labor condition, the recipient had to pull the handle of the board so that the operator could operate a container. Results showed that operators chose the high-value food container for recipients more often than when the recipient was absent only in Equal labor condition. This suggests that capuchin monkeys are sensitive to others’ labor and actively give food to a partner who has helped them to complete a task.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Research Fellowships of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) for Young Scientists (No. 21264 to Ayaka Takimoto), the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 20220004 to Kazuo Fujita) from JSPS, and the Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science, and Technology (MEXT) Global COE Program, D-07, to Kyoto University. The subject monkeys were originally provided by the Cooperation Research Program from the Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, with Tetsuro Matsuzawa as the counterpart. We also gratefully acknowledge Hika Kuroshima and James R. Anderson, for various suggestions on our manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan

    Ayaka Takimoto & Kazuo Fujita

  2. Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan

    Ayaka Takimoto

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  1. Ayaka Takimoto
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  2. Kazuo Fujita
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Correspondence to Ayaka Takimoto.

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Takimoto, A., Fujita, K. I acknowledge your help: capuchin monkeys’ sensitivity to others’ labor. Anim Cogn 14, 715–725 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-011-0406-5

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