Monkeys Have Personality, Too! Link Between Marmoset Traits and Cognitive Capabilities Investigated

A new study recently looked at the link between personality and cognitive capabilities in Marmoset monkeys.

As indicated in an Earth.com report, in humans, some personality traits are associated with their learning abilities. Historically, a lot of people have doubted that non humans have personalities too.

Therefore, this sort of association in other animals has never been tested. Nevertheless, recent research has demonstrated convincing evidence for personalities in creatures such as apes, spiders, as well as other animals.

For instance, one has a pet, he may wonder how it has not always been evident that they are not the only creatures with distinctive personalities. Animals that appear to be friends, or even whole groups frequently share the same personality traits.

Bolder, Shier

Vedrana Slipgor, together with colleagues from the University of Vienna looked at marmosets due to their complicated social lives, reflecting humans' very own, in a lot of ways.

First, in their research published in the Scientific Reports, the scientists examined individual personalities of the monkey species by giving them tasks and observing how engaged they were in novel situations.

For example, monkeys were trained to hold a stick, stand on a scale, and reach the highest they can. In general, the monkey fell into comprehensive categories.

The study authors discovered the monkeys to be either bold or shier. The learning abilities of the monkey were tested as well, as they were required to form connections between objects that have similar shapes, colors or sizes.

Marmosets are Fast Learners

The researchers also discovered that female marmosets learned more rapidly compared to males. The outcomes also showed that monkeys that have bolder personalities learned faster compared to the shy ones.

Nevertheless, there were many other social factors at play, a similar Phys.org report said. Being part of some social groups or families enhanced learning speed, for example. This may be because of former social support and genetics.

According to Slipogor, it appears that both certain personality traits and social environment have an impact on individual variation in cognition in marmoset monkeys.

In their future research, the research team aims to see if their findings hold with other tasks that are probably more cognitively demanding for the monkeys and if such an impact can be discovered in other highly social animals with akin socio-ecological features.

Personality of Marmosets

In humans, distinctions in personalities have been apparent since prehistoric times. A separate Phys.org report said that personality among animals has long been ignored, although this question has been getting increasing study interest as it has been realized that such a trait has evolutionary and ecological importance.

Essentially, marmosets are tiny highly social New World monkey species that parallel humans in terms of their social organization, as they're living in cohesive family units, where parents are acting as breeders and their offspring help them raise the young.

Study investigators of research demonstrated that captive monkeys that live in Australia, as well as those monkeys that live under natural conditions in Northern Brazil's semi-arid Caatinga forests, show consistent differences in their traits or personalities, akin to humans.

Related information about marmosets is shown on Nature on PBS's YouTube video below:

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