Page 48 - Demo

Chapter 246EffortWhen it comes to effort, a few more studies have investigated this topic in primates. Often, these tasks are based on the presentation of videos. By pressing on the screen, individuals can control the duration of the video so that exerting more effort (e.g., holding their finger on the screen for a longer time) results in a longer presentation of the video fragment. In general, videos function as a reward, so individuals receive no food reward for participation. Tsuchida & Izumi (2009) used this method to study video preference in Japanese macaques and found that individuals pressed longer when the video on the screen depicted monkeys. A similar study on Japanese macaques found a preference for videos depicting humans or animations (Ogura & Matsuzawa, 2012). Thus, effort paradigms have been developed and are relatively easy to apply in non-human primates.Effort tasks can be used to study the evolution of sexually selective cognition in primates. For instance, by presenting individuals with videos and measuring the effort they invest to keep watching videos that contain mating information versus non-mating information, researchers can investigate whether primates are motivated to access information relevant to mate choice. If they are, follow-up studies could present primates with videos that contain indicators of good mate quality versus less attractive physical features. Consequently, researchers can test whether primates have an increased motivation to watch stimuli that contain information associated with good mate quality. Such studies can offer valuable insights into how sexual selection shapes cognition in primates.Future applications: sexually selective cognition and conservation breedingSuccessful reproduction of zoo-housed animals is essential for zoos to fulfil their conservation goals. Conservation breeding involves the careful management of captive animal populations to promote population growth or stability while at the same time preserving genetic variation. To achieve these objectives, captive populations must maintain a healthy age and sex structure, genetic diversity, and avoid inbreeding. To this end, conservation breeding programs rely mostly on pedigree information to suggest appropriate breeding recommendations (Briscoe et al., 2002). For example, individuals with low mean kinship (i.e., low relatedness to the captive population) may be preferentially selected for breeding Tom Roth.indd 46 08-01-2024 10:41