Establishing an infrastructure for collaboration in primate cognition research

Area of Science:

• Primate cognition
• Evolutionary psychology
• Comparative psychology

Background:

• Comparative studies of cognitive abilities in primates are crucial for understanding evolutionary history.
• Existing research is often limited by small sample sizes, few species, and methodological inconsistencies across studies.
• Large, diverse datasets are essential but difficult for individual researchers or institutions to obtain.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce the ManyPrimates project, a collaborative framework for large-scale comparative studies in primate cognition.
• To demonstrate the project's feasibility through a case study on short-term memory in primates.
• To establish a foundation for addressing open questions in primate cognition using extensive, diverse datasets.

Main Methods:

• A collaborative framework was established involving 11 research sites across four continents.
• A case study focused on short-term memory, testing 176 individuals from 12 primate species.
• A consistent delayed-response task methodology was applied across all sites and species, with delay intervals of 0, 15, and 30 seconds.

Main Results:

• Primate performance on the delayed-response task was inversely related to delay duration, with better recall after shorter delays.
• Phylogenetic analysis indicated a strong phylogenetic signal for short-term memory capacity across the studied primate species.
• The study successfully demonstrated the feasibility of the ManyPrimates collaborative, open-science approach.

Conclusions:

• The ManyPrimates project provides a viable solution for generating large-scale, methodologically consistent datasets in primate cognition research.
• Initial findings suggest that short-term memory in primates is influenced by evolutionary history.
• This collaborative framework offers a powerful opportunity to advance our understanding of primate cognitive evolution.