title: Emotion-Cognition Interaction in Nonhuman Primates: Cognitive Avoidance of Negative Stimuli in Baboons (Papio papio)
abstract: It is well established that emotion and cognition interact in humans, but such an interaction has not been extensively studied in nonhuman primates. We investigated whether emotional value can affect nonhuman primates' processing of stimuli that are only mentally represented, not visually available. In a short-term memory task, baboons memorized the location of two target squares of the same color, which were presented with a distractor of a different color. Through prior long-term conditioning, one of the two colors had acquired a negative valence. Subjects were slower and less accurate on the memory task when the targets were negative than when they were neutral. In contrast, subjects were faster and more accurate when the distractors were negative than when they were neutral. Some of these effects were modulated by individual differences in emotional disposition. Overall, the results reveal a pattern of cognitive avoidance of negative stimuli, and show that emotional value alters cognitive processing in baboons even when the stimuli are not physically present. This suggests that emotional influences on cognition are deeply rooted in evolutionary continuity.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières.
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Blanchette
authors.affiliation: 2 LPC UMR 7290, CNRS, Aix Marseille Université.|3 Department of Social Sciences, Qatar University.
authors.forename: Yousri
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Marzouki
authors.affiliation: 2 LPC UMR 7290, CNRS, Aix Marseille Université.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Claidière
authors.affiliation: 2 LPC UMR 7290, CNRS, Aix Marseille Université.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gullstrand
authors.affiliation: 2 LPC UMR 7290, CNRS, Aix Marseille Université.
authors.forename: Joël
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fagot
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D010215:Papio / Q000523:psychology*; D048531:Papio papio
keywords: avoidance; baboons; emotion-cognition interaction; negative stimuli; open data; short-term memory