ObjectRecognitionintheWhiteFacedSakiMonkey(Pitheciapithecia)

MorganFoize,StephHostager,andCoryLundeen Introduction ThewhitefacedsakimonkeyisaNewWorldprimatehailingfromtheNorthernAmazon Basin.Theyspendthemajorityoftheirtimeinmoistlowland,rainforest,andswampareaswithadiet thatconsistsofmostlyseeds,fruit,and(ontherareoccasion)leaves,insects,andflowers(Kinzeyand Norconk1993).Sakimonkeysareadiurnalspeciesandtendtospendmostoftheirtimeintrees. Theyarealsoknownfortheirexplicitsexualdimorphismthatmanifestsasawhitefaced,blackbodied maleandagray/brownfemale.Thewhitefacedsakiwasintroducedintozoocaptivityinthe1970s buttheirmatingandreproductivebehaviors,aswellastheircognitiveabilities,haverarelybeenstudied (Savage,A.,etal.1995). Ourfirstexperimentconcernsobjectrecognitionandmemory.Weobservedreactionsofthe sakimonkeyswhenexposedtofamiliarversusnovelobjects.Althoughthisresearchhasnotbeendone concerningthewhitefacedsaki,macaquestudieshavebeendonetoobserveneuronsinthe hippocampusoncepresentedwithstimuli(Jutrasetal2010).Itwasdiscoveredthattheanimalswere abletodifferentiatebetweenfamiliarandnovelstimuli,andthehippocampalneuronsfireddifferently whenafamiliarobjectispresented. Thesecondexperimentinvolvedanunderstandingofphysicsandexpectedmovements.The researchalreadydoneinthisareafocusedonhumaninfants,generallybetweentheagesoffivetoseven months.Thisiswhenspatialreasoningisunderstoodtodevelop.However,researchshowsthathumans

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havesimilarinitialdevelopmentwhencomparedtootherprimates,andwemaybeabletoseethese differencesinthesakimonkeysaswell.Attheageoffivemonths,humansareabletodistinguish betweenexpectedinanimateobjectbehavior,andunexpectedselfpropelledobjectbehavior.The subjectsshowedmarkedinterestinobjectsthatseemedtodefygravityormadesuddenunexpected movements(Luoetal2008).Wehopedtodiscoversomethingsimilarinthewhitefacedsakimonkeys usingourbeachballs. Themainpurposeofthisexperimentwastodeterminetherelativelevelofintelligenceofthe Sakicomparedtothatofhumaninfants.Therehavenotbeenmanystudiesthatfocusedon understandingSakiintelligence.Thisgapinthefieldpromptedourdesiretobetterunderstandhowwell (andif)Sakimonkeyscanunderstandphysicalprinciples.Thiswastestedbyobservingtheamountof intereststhesakimonkeysshowtowardsthecasesofnonstandardphysics.WecancomparetheSaki monkeysresponsetothephysicsexperimentstotheresponsesofhumaninfants.Usingthisinformation, itwillallowforabetterunderstandingoftheSakimonkeys. Hypotheses OuralternativehypothesisisthattheSakimonkeyscanidentifybothnovelobjects,aswellas casesofnonstandardphysics. Thenullhypothesisisthatthemonkeyswillshowrecognitionofnovelconditions. Methods LocationandSubjects TwoWhiteFacedSakimonkeys(onemaleandonefemale)werechosenfortheexperiment.The monkeyswereamatedpairandwerehousedtogetheratComoZoo,St.Paulintheprimateexhibit

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building.WithintheWhiteFacedSakienclosuretherewerealsotwoslothswhoseresponseswerenot recorded.Allexperimentswereperformedoutsidetheexhibit(aglasswallseparatedtheresearchers fromthesubjects).Forenclosuredetails,pleaseseeFigure1.

Figure1:WhiteFacedSakiMonkeyEnclosureatComoZoo,St.Paul

BehaviorCoding Inordertoeffectivelyandconsistentlymeasureanimalinterestinpresentedobjects,anoperation definitionwasformulatedbasedonmonkeyeyemovement.Staring(thebehaviorusedtodetect interest)wasdefinedasheadandeyemovementinthedirectionoftheobjectofinterest.Thelengthof timeananimalengagesinthebehaviordoesnotimpactthedefinitionandthereforeanyamountof staringbehavior,nomatterhowbrief,wasrecorded.

RecognitionofaNovelObject:SimilarSizes GeneralInformation:Twotripodsofequalshapeandsizewereobtainedforthisexperiment.One tripodwasusedpermanufacturer'sdesign(thenormaltripod).Theothertripodwasrandomly 3 of 11

decoratedingreen,pink,orange,blue,andpurplePostItnotes.Twoviewpointsareasoutsideofthe enclosurewerethenchosen.Viewpointlocationsandnumberingwereconsistentthroughoutthe experiment. Step1:Fora20minutesessiontheamountoftimeeachSakimonkeystaredinthedirectionof viewpoint1andinthedirectionofviewpoint2wasrecordedinseconds.Thisobservationsenabledthe researcherstodetermineifthesubjectsnaturallypreferredtostareinonedirectionasopposedtothe other. Step2:Afterrecordingfor20minutes,thenormaltripodwasplacedinviewpoint1andanother20 minutesessionwasrecorded.Again,theamountoftimespentstaringinthedirectionofboth viewpointswasrecorded. Step3:Thenormaltripodwasleftinviewpoint1foronehour(inadditiontothe20minuteobservation sessionfromstep2).Afteronehourhadelapsed,staringbehaviorinthedirectionofeachviewpoint wasagainrecordedfora20minutesessioninordertotestforhabituation. Step4:Afterthehabituationrecording,thenormaltripodremainedinviewpoint1andthetripod coveredinPostItnotes(representinganovelobject)wasplacedinviewpoint2.Immediately researchersbeganrecordingstaringbehaviorattributedtoeachviewpointforanother20minute session. Step5:Steps14wererepeatedwiththeotherWhiteFacedSakimonkey.

Figure2:TableforRecordingStaringBehaviorTowardViewpoint1versusViewpoint2(SimilarSizes) Monkey(Insert Gender) Step1 Step2 Step3 Step4

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TimeStaringat Viewpoint1 TimeStaringat Viewpoint2

RecognitionofaNovelObject:Movement GeneralInformation:Twotripodsofequalshape/sizeandtwoIpadsofequalshape/sizewereobtained forthisexperiment.Bothtripodswereassembledpermanufacturersdesignandonetripodwasplaced ineachviewpoint(seeFigure2).OneIpadwasalsoplacednearthetopofeachtripod.Monkeys werepermittedtohabituatetothetripodIpadcomboforonehourpriortoanyexperiments. Step1:Afterthehabituationsession,researchersengagedinone10minuterecordingsessionto determinetheamountoftimethesubjectengagedinstaringbehaviortowardeachviewpoint. Step2:TheIpadinViewpoint1wasthenturnedonandthescreenwassettodisplayavideoof randomlydriftinggeometricshapes.Immediately,researchersengagedinanother10minuterecording sessiontodeterminetheamountoftimethesubjectengagedinstaringbehaviortowardeachviewpoint. Step3:Steps12wererepeatedfortheotherWhiteFacedSakimonkey.Note:ThesecondSaki monkeytestedwasgiven1hourand20minutestohabituatewhiletheothermonkeywasonlygiven1 hourtohabituate.

Figure3:TableforRecordingStaringBehaviorTowardViewpoint1versusViewpoint2(Movement) Monkey(InsertGender) Step1 Step2

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TimeStaringatViewpoint1 TimeStaringatViewpoint2

Results Figure4:ResultsoftheNovelTripodExperiments

Thesearetheresultsoftheobjectrecognitionexperimentsusingtripods.Thedatashownisthe averagetimethatthemonkeysspentstaringateitherviewpoint.Asthischartshowsadrasticincreasein thetimethatthemonkeysstaredatviewpoint2whenthenoveltripodwasplacedinthatlocation. However,thischangewasnotsignificant(withapvalueof0.187).Thiswaslikelyduetothefew numberoftrialandthelimitednumberofsubjects.

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Figure5:ResultsfromtheiPadVideoexperiments

Thesearetheresultsfromtheexperimentsinvolvingplayingvideosofmoving,geometricshapes (createdbycognitiveresearcherUtaFrith)onaniPad.Whenthevideowasintroduced,after habituation,therewasahighlevelofinterestinthevideo.However,thettestresultsofthisexperiment yieldedapvalueof0.103andwerenotsignificant.Thisexperimenthadfewertrialthantheobject recognitionexperimentsbecausewewerenotallowedtocontinueourresearchafteronetrial.Thiswas duetoazookeeperfeelingthatthevideosweretoostressful.

Discussion Thepurposeofthisexperimentwastogetabetterunderstandingofthecognitionofthe WhiteFacedSakimonkey.ThereisnotmuchresearchonWhiteFacedsakimonkeys,especiallyinthe areaoftheircognitionandintelligence.Thefirstpartofthisresearchfocusedonobjectrecognition.The sakiswerepresentedwithacameratripodthattheywerehabituatedtoandanoveltripod.Thenovel 7 of 11

tripodwasmadeuniquebyplacingneon,coloredPostitnotesonit.Becausesakimonkeyshave goodcolorvision,itwasassumedthatthischangewouldbenoticeablebythemonkeys.The assumptionheldtrue.Boththemaleandfemalesakimonkeysspentagreateramountoftimelookingat thenoveltripodoverthehabituatedtripod.Howeverduetoasmallsamplesizeandalimitedtimefor experimentation,thechangeintheirbehaviorwasnotstatisticallysignificant. Thesecondexperimentwasdesignedtolookatwhetherornotthewhitefacedsakimonkeys wereabletorecognizewhenbasicphysicalprincipleswereviolated.Thiswasgoingtobeaccomplished byplayingvideosofsimplegeometricshapesperformingdifferentactions.Thesevideosarefromthe researcherUtaFrith,adevelopmentalpsychologist,andaredesignedtofocusontestinghownormal andabnormalphysicalprinciplesareunderstood.Thesevideosconsistoftwotrianglesperforming differentinteractions.Theyarerandominteractions,dancinginteractions,andtag/chasinginformation. Thelasttwovideoswereexamplesofobjectsthatviolatedphysics.Itwashypothesizedthatthesaki monkeyswouldspendmoretimelookingatthevideosthatviolatedphysics.However,wewerenot abletouseanyvideosotherthantherandominteractions.Thiswasbecauseazookeeperfeltthatthe videosmaycausetoomuchstressontheanimals.Intheonevideothatwasused,thesakisspentmore timelookingattheiPadvideothantheotherlocation,yetthiswasnotasignificantdifference.Duetothe limitationslistedabove,wewerenotabletodetermineifthesakiscouldrecognizethedifference betweenthetypesofvideos. Theresearchdidshowapreferenceinthesakimonkeystowardsnovelobjects,butduetothe manylimitationslistedabovefurtherresearchisneeded.Ifmoreresearchwouldbeconducted,a greaterlevelofcommunicationwiththeComoZoostaffwouldbebeneficial.Itwaschallengingtotalk

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totherightpeopleandwewerenotallowedtocontactmanagingstafftoapproveourresearch.Also,it wouldbehelpfultoresearchthesakiswhenregularvisitorarenotinthearea.Otherzoovisitorsmay havedistractedthemonkeysduringourresearchanddilutedtheresponsesofthesakis.Allinall,the researchshowedsomepositiveresponsestowardobjectrecognitiononthepartofwhitefacedsaki monkeys,butmoreresearchisneededtobetterunderstandtheseresponses.

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LiteratureCited

Jutras,M.J.,Buffalo,E.A.,Squire,L.R.2010.RecognitionMemorySignalsintheMacaque Hippocampus.ProceedingsoftheNationalAcademyofSciencesoftheUnitedStates107:401406.

Kinzey,W.G.,andM.A.Norconk.1993.Physicalandchemicalpropertiesoffruit andseedseatenbyPitheciaandChiropotesinSurinamandVenezuela. InternationalJournalofPrimatology14:207227.

Luo,Y.,Kaufman,L.,Baillargeon,R.2009.Younginfantsreasoningaboutphysicaleventsinvolving inertandselfpropelledobjects.CognitivePsychology58:441486.

Savage,A.,Lasley,B.L.,Vecchio,A.J.,Miller,A.E.andShideler,S.E.(1995),Selectedaspectsof femalewhitefacedsaki(Pitheciapithecia)reproductivebiologyincaptivity.ZooBiol.,14:441452.

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Appendix1:RawData

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