Social bonds drive learning in monkeys and humans alike

Every day, deep within the lush landscapes of Brazil’s Serra da Capivara National Park, a fascinating spectacle unfolds. Here, wild bearded capuchin monkeys learn to solve problems and access food by keenly observing other successful members of their social group.

Who’s smart enough to take the banana?

A research team from Durham University’s Department of Anthropology set up a large box containing food in the park. The box could be accessed by lifting a door or pulling a knob.

As scientists observed from their treetop offices, they were keen to discover which monkeys would figure out how to access the meal inside the box. And more importantly, they were interested in how this knowledge would ripple across the group.

Social tolerance and learning

The focus of this study was not the intelligence of the monkeys but the role of social tolerance in the learning process.

Social tolerance, in this context, refers to who can hang out with whom and who gets access to what goodies, such as food or information.

Monkey see, monkey learn

The findings of the study highlighted that the monkeys primarily learned through direct observation.

The researchers found that social tolerance among the monkeys, particularly among those who groomed each other, served as a good indicator of who would learn from who. So, the friendlier the monkey, the better the learner.

Beyond the influence of social tolerance, monkeys who had yet to learn the trick of the box were more likely to observe and potentially learn from successful males in the group.

Social learning in monkeys

This intriguing study was co-supervised by Professor Rachel Kendal of Durham University’s Department of Anthropology.

“Bearded capuchins possess the largest ‘toolkit’ among monkeys, and this is likely due to social learning, enabling skills to be passed down the generations,” Kendal notes.

The research team wanted to investigate what influenced who was learning from whom once they had established that social learning was taking place.

They discovered that socially tolerant individuals, who often groomed or ate together, were more likely to observe each other when interacting with the “puzzle box.” This tolerance also affected how information about solving the box problem spread among the group.

Getting ahead in the monkey world

Of course, status matters, even in the monkey world. For instance, even if a monkey has a skill, others may not learn it if the skillful one doesn’t have sufficient status to be observed.

The flip side holds true as well – if a monkey is intolerant and doesn’t allow others to watch him, others won’t learn. So, the ability to learn from success is biased towards socially tolerant individuals.

This is not so different from humans, is it?

Implications for human societies

The parallels between the social dynamics of capuchin monkeys and human societies are captivating.

The study’s revelations about social tolerance and observational learning can shed light on how cultural and knowledge transmission occurs in humans. Like our primate cousins, humans rely on social networks to pass down technology, skills, and traditions – helping to maintain societal cohesion.

This research can thus provide valuable insights into the evolution of our cooperative behaviors and the foundational role of social tolerance in cultural development.

Future social learning research

Building on these findings, future research could explore the extent to which these learning dynamics apply to other primate species and even other animal groups.

Comparative studies could help unravel the complexities of social learning environments and further dissect the influence of hierarchy and social bonds. Moreover, integrating this understanding with cognitive neuroscience could illuminate the underlying neurological processes driving social learning.

This multifaceted approach may ultimately enrich our comprehension of both primate societies and the evolutionary pathways that have shaped social intelligence.

What does this mean for us?

These fascinating findings from Durham University might shed light on the evolutionary forces involved in primate, including human, cultural abilities.

Research partners in this project also included Eduardo B. Ottoni of the Institute of Psychology at the University of São Paulo and lead authors Camila Galheigo Coelho and Ivan Garcia-Nisa, both former PhD researchers in the Anthropology Department at Durham University.

The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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