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Sex and rank affect how infant rhesus macaques look at faces
Author(s) -
Paukner Annika,
Slonecker Emily M.,
Murphy Ashley M.,
Wooddell Lauren J.,
Dettmer Amanda M.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.21579
Subject(s) - macaque , psychology , affect (linguistics) , rhesus macaque , developmental psychology , facial expression , gaze , dominance (genetics) , primate , communication , medicine , biology , biochemistry , neuroscience , psychoanalysis , immunology , gene
We investigated how differences in infant sex and mothers’ dominance status affect infant rhesus macaques’ ( Macaca mulatta ) interest in visually exploring emotional facial expressions. Thirty‐eight infants were presented with animated avatars of macaque facial expressions during the first month of life. Sons of high‐ranking mothers looked more at faces, especially the eye region, than sons of low‐ranking mothers, but no difference in looking duration was found for daughters. Males looked significantly more at eyes than females, but this effect was reversed in infants who were reared without mothers in a primate nursery facility. In addition, in mother‐infant interactions, mothers of sons were more likely to gaze at their infant's face compared to mothers of daughters. Combined with previous research indicating that rhesus macaque mothers interact differently with infants based on their own rank and infant's sex, these results support the view that social experiences shape early face preferences in rhesus macaques.