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Rhesus monkeys manipulate mental images.

Thomas C Hassett¹, Victoria K Lord², Robert R Hampton¹

¹Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States of America; Emory National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, GA, United States of America.

|July 17, 2022

Summary

Rhesus monkeys demonstrate mental rotation abilities, similar to humans. This research provides evidence for the evolution of mental imagery in nonhuman primates.

Keywords:

Mental imagery Mental rotation Nonhuman primate

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Comparative Psychology
Primate Cognition

Background:

Humans possess the ability to form and manipulate mental images, mirroring physical object transformations.
Understanding mental imagery in nonhuman animals is crucial for tracing its evolutionary origins and species distribution.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether rhesus monkeys can form and mentally rotate visual images.
To explore the characteristics and precision of mental rotation in rhesus monkeys.

Main Methods:

Three experiments were conducted with rhesus monkeys involving image discrimination and rotation cues.
Behavioral responses, including response latencies, were recorded during mental rotation tasks.
Experiment 2 specifically assessed the precision of mental rotation using a directional cue.

Main Results:

Monkeys discriminated rotated images from mirror images, with response times increasing with greater rotation angles.
Evidence suggests monkeys can achieve a precision of better than 30° in discriminating image rotations.
Experiment 3 showed mixed results regarding the effect of rotation cues on decision times compared to human studies.

Conclusions:

Rhesus monkeys exhibit the capacity to form and manipulate mental images, specifically through mental rotation.
These findings contribute to the understanding of the evolution of cognitive abilities like mental imagery in primates.