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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 18, 2026

Assessment of Social Cognition in Non-human Primates Using a Network of Computerized Automated Learning Device ALDM Test Systems

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Published on: May 5, 2015

Do chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) attribute preferences to virtual competitors?

Emilie Rapport Munro¹, Matthias Allritz², Kenneth Schweller³

¹School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland.

|September 9, 2025

Summary

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) did not demonstrate an understanding of competitors' food preferences to avoid conflict. Despite learning to use a virtual agent, they selected food items at random, suggesting limitations in social cognition for resource competition.

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Area of Science:

Primate behavior
Animal cognition
Social dominance hierarchies

Background:

Animal societies often feature complex dominance structures.
Subordinate individuals must manage competition for resources with dominant group members to avoid aggression.
Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) exhibit multi-level social systems.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if chimpanzees can infer and utilize competitors' food preferences to select non-contested food items.
To assess chimpanzee cognitive abilities in understanding and predicting the behavior of others in a competitive context.

Main Methods:

Fifteen chimpanzees were trained to interact with virtual competitors with known food preferences.
Subjects selected targets for a virtual agent, aiming to avoid competitors.
A control condition with no competitor preference information was included for comparison.

Main Results:

Chimpanzees learned to operate the virtual agent but did not select targets above chance levels based on competitor presence.
Performance in the test condition was not significantly different from the control condition.
Some chimpanzees exhibited frustration when targets were "stolen" by virtual competitors.

Conclusions:

The study did not find evidence that chimpanzees use competitor preference knowledge to avoid resource competition.
Potential theoretical and methodological factors may explain these findings in contrast to other studies.
Further research is needed to fully understand the nuances of social cognition and competition avoidance in chimpanzees.