TY - JOUR
T1 - The Responses of Female Baboons (Papio cynocephalus ursinus) to Anomalous Social Interactions
T2 - Evidence for Causal Reasoning?
AU - Cheney, Dorothy L.
AU - Seyfarth, Robert M.
AU - Silk, Joan B.
PY - 1995/6
Y1 - 1995/6
N2 - Baboons' (Papio cynocephalus ursinus) understanding of cause-effect relations in the context of social interactions was examined through use of a playback experiment. Under natural conditions, dominant female baboons often grunt to more subordinate mothers when interacting with their infants. Mothers occasionally respond to these grunts by uttering submissive fear barks. Subjects were played causally inconsistent call sequences in which a lower ranking female apparently grunted to a higher ranking female, and the higher ranking female apparently responded with fear barks. As a control, subjects heard a sequence made causally consistent by the inclusion of grunts from a 3rd female that was dominant to both of the others. Subjects responded significantly more strongly to the causally inconsistent sequences, suggesting that they recognized the factors that cause 1 individual to give submissive vocalizations to another.
AB - Baboons' (Papio cynocephalus ursinus) understanding of cause-effect relations in the context of social interactions was examined through use of a playback experiment. Under natural conditions, dominant female baboons often grunt to more subordinate mothers when interacting with their infants. Mothers occasionally respond to these grunts by uttering submissive fear barks. Subjects were played causally inconsistent call sequences in which a lower ranking female apparently grunted to a higher ranking female, and the higher ranking female apparently responded with fear barks. As a control, subjects heard a sequence made causally consistent by the inclusion of grunts from a 3rd female that was dominant to both of the others. Subjects responded significantly more strongly to the causally inconsistent sequences, suggesting that they recognized the factors that cause 1 individual to give submissive vocalizations to another.
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U2 - 10.1037/0735-7036.109.2.134
DO - 10.1037/0735-7036.109.2.134
M3 - Article
C2 - 7758289
AN - SCOPUS:0029321210
SN - 0735-7036
VL - 109
SP - 134
EP - 141
JO - Journal of Comparative Psychology
JF - Journal of Comparative Psychology
IS - 2
ER -