Data from: Flexible gaze-following in rhesus monkeys

Humans are characterized by complex social cognitive abilities that emerge early in development. Comparative studies of nonhuman primates can illuminate the evolutionary history of these social capacities. We examined the cognitive skills that rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) use to follow gaze, a foundational skill in human social development. While rhesus monkeys can make inferences about others’ gaze when competing, it is unclear how they think about gaze information in other contexts. In study 1, monkeys (n = 64) observed a demonstrator look upwards either in a barrier condition where a box was overhead, so that monkeys could not see the target of her gaze, or a no barrier condition where nothing blocked her view. In study 2, monkeys (n = 59) could approach to observe the target of the demonstrator’s gaze when the demonstrator looked behind a barrier on the ground or, in the no barrier condition, behind a window frame in the same location. Monkeys were more likely to directly look up in study 1 if they could initially see the location where the demonstrator was looking, but they did not preferentially reorient their bodies to observe the out-of-view location when they could not see that location. In study 2, monkeys did preferentially reorient, but at low rates. This indicates that rhesus monkeys can use social cognitive processes outside of competitive contexts to model what others can or cannot see, but may not be especially motivated to see what others look at in non-competitive contexts, as they reorient infrequently or in an inconsistent fashion. These similarities and differences between gaze-following in monkeys and children can help to illuminate the evolution of human social cognition.人类具备在发育早期便显现的复杂社会认知能力，这是人类的典型特征。对非人灵长类动物开展比较研究，能够为这类社会认知能力的演化历程提供重要启示。我们针对恒河猴（Macaca mulatta）的凝视追随（gaze-following）认知能力展开了研究——凝视追随是人类社会发育过程中的一项基础技能。尽管恒河猴在竞争场景中能够对同类的凝视行为做出推断，但目前尚不明确它们在其他场景下如何处理凝视相关信息。在实验1中，64只恒河猴观察了一名示范者的向上凝视行为：实验设置分为障碍物条件与无障碍条件——障碍物条件下，示范者头顶放置有一个箱子，使得恒河猴无法看到其凝视的目标；无障碍条件下则无任何物体遮挡示范者的视线。在实验2中，当示范者看向地面障碍物后方时，或是在无障碍条件下看向同一位置的窗框后方时，59只恒河猴可以主动靠近以观察示范者凝视的目标。在实验1中，若恒河猴最初能够看到示范者的凝视方向，它们更倾向于直接向上凝视；但当无法看到该凝视目标时，它们并不会主动调整身体朝向以观察视野外的目标位置。而在实验2中，恒河猴虽确实会优先调整身体朝向，但其调整频率较低。该结果表明，恒河猴能够在非竞争场景下运用社会认知过程，来表征他人能否看到某一事物；但在非竞争场景中，它们并不会被强烈驱动去观察同类所凝视的对象，仅会偶尔或以不一致的方式调整身体朝向。恒河猴与人类儿童在凝视追随行为上的这些异同点，能够为人类社会认知能力的演化研究提供关键启示。

搜集汇总

背景与挑战

背景概述

该数据集基于恒河猴在非竞争情境下的凝视跟随实验，包含两个研究（study 1和study 2）的行为数据，涉及屏障条件与无屏障条件的对比，旨在探索猴子如何模型他人视觉信息的能力。研究发现猴子在能直接看到凝视目标时更可能向上看，但在无法看到时重定向身体的行为较低或不一致，揭示了其社交认知在非竞争情境下的局限性，为人类社交认知进化提供了比较依据。