Behavioral mimicry predicts social favor in adolescent rhesus macaques ( Macaca mulatta )
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Behavioral mimicry predicts social favor in adolescent rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) Jordan A. Anderson1 · Erin L. Kinnally2,3 Received: 6 January 2020 / Accepted: 27 August 2020 © Japan Monkey Centre and Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Non-conscious mimicry is a highly conserved component of animal behavior with multifaceted connections to sociality across taxa. One intriguing consequence of this mimicry in primates is that it promotes positive social feedback from the recipient toward the mimicker. This suggests that mimicry in primates may be an important aspect of positive social interaction, but few studies have tracked the consequences of mimicry in naturally occurring complex social conditions. Here, we designed a novel ethogram to characterize mimicry between conspecifics, to better understand whether mimicry is associated with affiliation between primates in a semi-naturalistic captive setting. In this study, 15 juvenile (aged 2–4 years) rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) were observed at the California National Primate Research Center. Frequencies of mimicry defined a priori (e.g. following, postural mimicry) were observed over a course of 12 weeks. In separate observations during the same period, focal social behavior (e.g. aggression, play, affiliation) with group members was also observed. Subjects that exhibited higher degrees of mimicry were not more prosocial, but they received significantly more play overtures from social partners (p 0.05). Environment-directed mimicry scores did not predict the rate at which focals initiated play (p > 0.05) or affiliation (p > 0.05). Additionally, self-directed mimicry did not significantly predict any aspect of social behavior (p > 0.05), although it did predict at trend level the frequency of receiving an affiliative overture (F(1,12) = 1.864, p = 0.085).
Discussion Consistent with previous studies (Chartrand and Bargh 1999; Paukner et al. 2009), we find that rates of mimicry positively predicted one aspect of affiliation in a small sample of semi-naturalistically housed primates. Macaque adolescents exhibiting higher mimicry scores received significantly more play overtures from conspecifics, while individuals showing lesser mimicry received fewer play solicitations. These data suggest, first, that in a small sample of adolescent macaques, rates of mimicry expression or motivation vary between individual macaques, and second, that these tendencies may predict positive social favor from conspecifics.
Primates Fig. 4 Environment-directed mimicry factor scores predict rates of received play per observation, or social favor
To our knowledge, this is the first study to observe naturalistic types of mimicry in rhesus macaque juveniles. We detected two general dimensions of mimicry behavior, which we termed environment-directed and self-directed mimicry. Environment-directed mimicry consisted of mimicking another animal by following them or mirroring their foraging and object exploration behaviors. This form of mimic
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