Monkeys who experience more feeding competition utilize social information to learn foraging skills faster

Animals must learn foraging skills to successfully survive and reproduce but the sources of interindividual variation in learning are poorly understood. For example, there is little consensus on the role motivation plays, even though it is a key factor impacting learning outcomes in humans. Here, we...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2023-07, Vol.13 (1), p.11624-11624, Article 11624
Main Authors: Arseneau-Robar, T. Jean M., Anderson, Karyn A., Sicotte, Pascale, Teichroeb, Julie A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Animals
Cebus
Competition
Feeding
Feeding Behavior
Food
Foraging behavior
Haplorhini
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Information processing
Learning
Motivation
multidisciplinary
Observational learning
Reinforcement
Risk reduction
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Social discrimination learning
Social Learning
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Summary:Animals must learn foraging skills to successfully survive and reproduce but the sources of interindividual variation in learning are poorly understood. For example, there is little consensus on the role motivation plays, even though it is a key factor impacting learning outcomes in humans. Here, we conduct a field experiment on a wild primate to investigate whether an individual’s vulnerability to feeding competition impacts their motivation to learn a beneficial foraging technique. We provided a group of monkeys with a food reward (i.e., a half banana) that needed to be retrieved from a box. The monkeys discovered an efficient technique that consistently allowed them to retrieve the banana quickly, decreasing the risk of food loss to competitors. We found that individuals who frequently experienced feeding competition learned this efficient technique significantly faster than individuals who rarely foraged in the presence of a dominant competitor. They appeared to use social learning to learn faster as they were more attentive to the handling techniques others used and improved their foraging skills after opportunities to observe a skilled demonstrator. These findings support that an individual’s vulnerability to feeding competition impacts their motivation to learn foraging skills that reduce food loss to competitors.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-37536-9