Face recognition in capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella)

• Published in: Journal of comparative psychology (1983) Vol. 123; no. 2; p. 151
• Main Authors: Pokorny, Jennifer J, de Waal, Frans B M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.05.2009
• Subjects: Animals; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Cebus - physiology; Face; Recognition (Psychology) - physiology; Species Specificity; Transfer (Psychology) - physiology; Visual Perception - physiology
• ISSN: 0735-7036
• DOI: 10.1037/a0014073

Primates live in complex social groups that necessitate recognition of the individuals with whom they interact. In humans, faces provide a visual means by which to gain information such as identity, allowing us to distinguish between both familiar and unfamiliar individuals. The current study used a computerized oddity task to investigate whether a New World primate, Cebus apella, can discriminate the faces of In-group and Out-group conspecifics based on identity. The current study, improved on past methodologies, demonstrates that capuchins recognize the faces of both familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics. Once a performance criterion had been reached, subjects successfully transferred to a large number of novel images within the first 100 trials thus ruling out performance based on previous conditioning. Capuchins can be added to a growing list of primates that appear to recognize two-dimensional facial images of conspecifics.