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Cited by 470Primate Behavior and EcologyChild and Animal Learning DevelopmentAnimal Behavior and Reproduction

Fission-Fusion Dynamics, Behavioral Flexibility, and Inhibitory Control in Primates

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Amici, Federica, Aureli, Filippo, Call, Josep·2008·Current Biology
DOI 10.1016/j.cub.2008.08.020
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Abstract

The Machiavellian Intelligence or Social Brain Hypothesis explains the evolution of increased brain size as mainly driven by living in complex organized social systems in which individuals represent "moving targets" who can adopt multiple strategies to respond to one another. Frequently splitting and merging in subgroups of variable composition (fission-fusion or FF dynamics) has been proposed as one aspect of social complexity ( compare with) that may be associated with an enhancement of cognitive skills like inhibition, which allows the suppression of prepotent but ineffective responses in a changing social environment. We compared the performance of primates experiencing high levels of FF dynamics (chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and spider monkeys) to that of species living in more cohesive groups (gorillas, capuchin monkeys, and long-tailed macaques) on five inhibition tasks. Testing species differing in diet, phylogenetic relatedness, and levels of FF dynamics allowed us to contrast ecological, phylogenetic, and socioecological explanations for interspecific differences. Spider monkeys performed at levels comparable to chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans, and better than gorillas. A two-cluster analysis grouped all species with higher levels of FF dynamics together. These findings confirmed that enhanced inhibitory skills are positively associated with FF dynamics, more than to phylogenetic relations or feeding ecology.

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  • In primates, performance on a series of nonsocial self-control tasks was related to variability in social systems.

    “In primates, performance on a series of nonsocial self-control control tasks was related to variability in social systems (174), illustrating the potential link between these skills and socioecology.”

    From The evolution of self-control. (2014) · cites this paper as [174]

  • Amici et al. (2008) compared seven primate species on five different tasks that assess inhibitory control, ranking species within each task and averaging ranks across tasks to approximate relative capacities for inhibitory control.

    “Amici et al. (2008) compared seven primate species on five different tasks that assess inhibitory control. Species were ranked within each task, and these ranks were averaged across tasks to approximate relative capacities for inhibitory control.”

    From How does cognition evolve? Phylogenetic comparative psychology (2012) · cites this paper as Amici et al. (2008)

  • Phylogenetic comparative methods have been applied to the study of brain evolution but have yet to be applied to systematic investigations of cognitive variation between species as measured through behavioral assays, with few exceptions.

    “While phylogenetic comparative methods have been applied to the study of brain evolution (e.g., Barton 1998; Dunbar 1998b; Deaner et al. 2000, 2007; Lindenfors et al. 2007; Isler and van Schaik 2009), with few exceptions (e.g., Amici et al. 2008; Shultz and Dunbar 2010), they have yet to be applied to systematic investigations of cognitive variation between species as measured through behavioral”

    From How does cognition evolve? Phylogenetic comparative psychology (2012) · cites this paper as Amici et al. 2008

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Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Boesch, C., and Boesch-Achermann, H. (2000). The Chimpanzees of the Taı ¨Forest (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
  2. Smuts, B.B., Cheney, D.L., Seyfarth, R.M., Wrangham, R.W., and Struh- saker, T.T. (1987). Primate Societies (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
  3. Vlamings, P. (2006). Inhibition in great apes: Performance on a detour- reaching and reversed contingency task. Master thesis, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, the Netherlands.

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Authors
Amici, F., Aureli, F., & Call, J.
Affiliations
  • Utrecht University (NL)
  • Liverpool John Moores University (GB)
  • Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (DE)
Corresponding author
  • Aureli, Filippo
  • Call, Josep
ORCID
Venue
Current Biology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2008-09
Volume
18
Issue
18
Pages
1415-1419
ISSN
0960-9822 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.cub.2008.08.020
OpenAlex
W2009549110
Cited by
470
References
40
Citations by year
2026: 25 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 49 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 46 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 29 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 20
FWCI
18.67
Type
journal article
Language
en
Update notices
erratum (2013-07-08)
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Current Biology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
Keywords
fission-fusion dynamics, inhibitory control, behavioral flexibility, social brain hypothesis, Machiavellian intelligence, primate cognition, social complexity, group cohesion, spider monkeys, chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, gorillas, capuchin monkeys, Macaca fascicularis, cross-species comparison, feeding ecology, phylogenetic relatedness
MeSH terms
Animals, Behavior, Animal, Brain, Cebus, Pan troglodytes, Cognition, Gorilla gorilla, Learning, Macaca, Motor Activity, Pongo pygmaeus, Primates, Species Specificity, Pan paniscus, Atelinae

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