M.W. Campbell, J.D. Carter, D. Proctor,
F.B.M. de Waal
Living Links Center, Yerkes
National Primate Research Center
Emory University, Atlanta,
USA
Contagious yawning has been linked in humans
to empathy, and such cognitively complex
capacties as self-recognition and
theory-of-mind. There is previous evidence from
a small population (N=6) that chimpanzees also
display contagious yawning (Anderson
et al 2004).
We tested a new method of stimulating
contagious yawning using a three-dimensional
computer animation program. We created three
distinct virtual chimpanzees, which could be
given motion and viewed from different angles.
The virtual chimpanzees were then animated to
yawn, hoot, tooth-clack, and form play faces
(all without sound).
From these animations we assembled two video
stimulus sets, a Yawn condition, consisting of
repeated 10-second clips of the different yawn
animations, and a Control condition, consisting
of repeated 10-second clips of the other three
mouth-moving expressions.
Twenty-four chimpanzees at the Yerkes
National Primate Research Center were tested in
12 mutually exclusive pairs, each of which saw
each stimulus video twice. Stimulus videos
lasted 15 minutes each, consisting of 90
separate clips, and we observed the subjects for
an additional 5 minutes to look for any buildup
effect.
We tallied the number of yawns for each
subject in each condition from video recordings.
Multiple individuals yawned significantly more
in the Yawn condition than in the Control
condition (binomial tests). The chimpanzees seem
to have sufficiently identified with the
animated chimpanzees for an involuntary behavior
to be stimulated. Computer generated animations
may have a host of applications for the
emotional and cognitive testing of
chimpanzees.
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