A group of Japanese scientists has shown for the first time that, like humans, macaques also modify their movements to synchronize with those of others. The research results are published in the journal Scientific Reports .
Before starting the experiment, the macaques were trained to press a button by hand. In the first test, the animals were paired and positioned in such a way that each could perfectly see and hear their partner . The same experiment was repeated but, in this case, each monkey was made to watch a video in which another monkey activated the button at different speeds. In the last test, the macaques were alone and could not see their partners or the video recordings.
Scientists from the Riken Institute of Brain Sciences (Japan) analyzed the movements of the animals and observed that, whether the companion was real or if it was a video, the macaques increased or decreased the speed at which they pressed the keys. buttons to adapt to the movement of your partners. In addition, each pair synchronized their movements in a different way and reached different speeds. On the other hand, the greatest coordination occurred when the animals could see and hear their partner at the same time.
“The reasons why monkeys synchronize their movements are not clear. It could be an important social behavior for survival in the wild,” explained the authors of the work. For example, other recent studies in humans have shown that behaviors such as walking or clapping in unison are indicative of the degree of cooperation between people.
