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Visual preference for previously familiar faces in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
Aiko Ode1, Ikuma Adachi2, Tomoko Imura3
1Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Social Sciences, Japan Women's University, Tokyo, Japan. m2164010oa@ug.jwu.ac.jp.
Scientific Reports
|March 6, 2026
Summary
Chimpanzees show a visual preference for familiar faces from past social groups, not current ones. Longer cohabitation with present groupmates reduces this preference, suggesting complex social memory in chimpanzees.
Area of Science:
- Primate behavior
- Cognitive ethology
- Social cognition
Background:
- Understanding social memory in non-human primates is crucial for evolutionary insights.
- Previous research indicates primates recognize familiar individuals, but the influence of relationship temporal status is less understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate chimpanzees' visual preferences for familiar faces based on relationship temporal status (past vs. present groupmate).
- To examine the effect of cohabitation duration on visual preferences for familiar faces.
Main Methods:
- Utilized eye-tracking technology to record visual behavior of six chimpanzees.
- Presented chimpanzees with paired facial photographs of familiar and novel individuals.
- Categorized familiar faces into past-cohabitation and present-cohabitation conditions.
Main Results:
- A significant looking bias towards familiar faces was observed only in the past-cohabitation condition.
- No visual preference for familiar faces was found in the present-cohabitation condition.
- Longer cohabitation duration correlated with reduced visual preference for present groupmates, but not past ones.
Conclusions:
- Chimpanzees' visual attention to familiar faces is influenced by the temporal context of social relationships.
- Long-term social memory in chimpanzees can persist across age and after separation.
- Findings suggest a nuanced modulation of visual attention by social relationship dynamics and duration.
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