TY - JOUR
T1 - Neuroanatomical correlates of individual differences in the object choice task in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
AU - Hopkins, William D.
AU - Mulholland, Michele M.
AU - Mareno, Mary Catherine
AU - Webb, Sarah J.Neal
AU - Schapiro, Steven J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 Hopkins, Mulholland, Mareno, Webb and Schapiro.
PY - 2022/11/25
Y1 - 2022/11/25
N2 - Declarative and imperative joint attention or joint engagement are important milestones in human infant development. These have been shown to be a significant predictor of later language development and are impaired in some individuals with, or at risk for, a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Comparatively, while chimpanzees and other great apes have been reported to engage in imperative joint attention, evidence of declarative joint attention remains unclear based on existing studies. Some have suggested that differences in methods of assessing joint attention may have an influence on performance in nonhuman primates. Here, we report data on a measure of receptive joint attention (object choice task) in a sample of captive chimpanzees. Chimpanzees, as a group, performed significantly better than chance. By contrast, when considering individual performance, there was no significant difference in the number of those who passed and those who failed. Using quantitative genetic analyses, we found that performance on the object choice task was not significantly heritable nor were there any significant effects of sex, rearing history, or colony. Lastly, we found significant differences in gray matter covariation, between those who passed or failed the task. Those who passed contributed more to gray matter covariation in several brain regions within the social brain network, consistent with hypotheses regarding the importance of these regions in human and nonhuman primate social cognition.
AB - Declarative and imperative joint attention or joint engagement are important milestones in human infant development. These have been shown to be a significant predictor of later language development and are impaired in some individuals with, or at risk for, a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Comparatively, while chimpanzees and other great apes have been reported to engage in imperative joint attention, evidence of declarative joint attention remains unclear based on existing studies. Some have suggested that differences in methods of assessing joint attention may have an influence on performance in nonhuman primates. Here, we report data on a measure of receptive joint attention (object choice task) in a sample of captive chimpanzees. Chimpanzees, as a group, performed significantly better than chance. By contrast, when considering individual performance, there was no significant difference in the number of those who passed and those who failed. Using quantitative genetic analyses, we found that performance on the object choice task was not significantly heritable nor were there any significant effects of sex, rearing history, or colony. Lastly, we found significant differences in gray matter covariation, between those who passed or failed the task. Those who passed contributed more to gray matter covariation in several brain regions within the social brain network, consistent with hypotheses regarding the importance of these regions in human and nonhuman primate social cognition.
KW - brain
KW - chimpanzee
KW - joint attention
KW - object choice task
KW - social cognition
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85143632975&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85143632975&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1057722
DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1057722
M3 - Article
C2 - 36507015
AN - SCOPUS:85143632975
SN - 1664-1078
VL - 13
JO - Frontiers in Psychology
JF - Frontiers in Psychology
M1 - 1057722
ER -