title: Bonobos (Pan paniscus) show an attentional bias toward conspecifics' emotions.
abstract: In social animals, the fast detection of group members' emotional expressions promotes swift and adequate responses, which is crucial for the maintenance of social bonds and ultimately for group survival. The dot-probe task is a well-established paradigm in psychology, measuring emotional attention through reaction times. Humans tend to be biased toward emotional images, especially when the emotion is of a threatening nature. Bonobos have rich, social emotional lives and are known for their soft and friendly character. In the present study, we investigated (i) whether bonobos, similar to humans, have an attentional bias toward emotional scenes compared with conspecifics showing a neutral expression, and (ii) which emotional behaviors attract their attention the most. As predicted, results consistently showed that bonobos' attention was biased toward the location of the emotional versus neutral scene. Interestingly, their attention was grabbed most by images showing conspecifics such as sexual behavior, yawning, or grooming, and not as much-as is often observed in humans-by signs of distress or aggression. The results suggest that protective and affiliative behaviors are pivotal in bonobo society and therefore attract immediate attention in this species.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Cognitive Psychology Unit, Leiden University, 2333 AK Leiden, The Netherlands; m.e.kret@fsw.leidenuniv.nl.
authors.forename: Mariska E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Kret
authors.affiliation: Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands;
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jaasma
authors.affiliation: Apenheul Primate Park, 7313 HK Apeldoorn, The Netherlands;
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bionda
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, University of Amsterdam, 1018 XA Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jasper G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Wijnen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019974:Pan paniscus / Q000523:psychology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: affect; ape; attention; bonobo; empathy