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Chimpanzees and Humans Mimic Pupil-Size of Conspecifics

Group-living typically provides benefits to individual group members but also confers costs. To avoid incredulity and betrayal and allow trust and cooperation, individuals must understand the intentions and emotions of their group members. Humans attend to other's eyes and from gaze and pupil-s...

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Autores principales: Kret, Mariska E., Tomonaga, Masaki, Matsuzawa, Tetsuro
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4139319/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25140998
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0104886
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author Kret, Mariska E.
Tomonaga, Masaki
Matsuzawa, Tetsuro
author_facet Kret, Mariska E.
Tomonaga, Masaki
Matsuzawa, Tetsuro
author_sort Kret, Mariska E.
collection PubMed
description Group-living typically provides benefits to individual group members but also confers costs. To avoid incredulity and betrayal and allow trust and cooperation, individuals must understand the intentions and emotions of their group members. Humans attend to other's eyes and from gaze and pupil-size cues, infer information about the state of mind of the observed. In humans, pupil-size tends to mimic that of the observed. Here we tested whether pupil-mimicry exists in our closest relative, the chimpanzee (P. troglodytes). We conjectured that if pupil-mimicry has adaptive value, e.g. to promote swift communication of inner states and facilitate shared understanding and coordination, pupil-mimicry should emerge within but not across species. Pupillometry data was collected from human and chimpanzee subjects while they observed images of the eyes of both species with dilating/constricting pupils. Both species showed enhanced pupil-mimicry with members of their own species, with effects being strongest in humans and chimpanzee mothers. Pupil-mimicry may be deeply-rooted, but probably gained importance from the point in human evolution where the morphology of our eyes became more prominent. Humans' white sclera surrounding the iris, and the fine muscles around their eyes facilitate non-verbal communication via eye signals.
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spelling pubmed-41393192014-08-25 Chimpanzees and Humans Mimic Pupil-Size of Conspecifics Kret, Mariska E. Tomonaga, Masaki Matsuzawa, Tetsuro PLoS One Research Article Group-living typically provides benefits to individual group members but also confers costs. To avoid incredulity and betrayal and allow trust and cooperation, individuals must understand the intentions and emotions of their group members. Humans attend to other's eyes and from gaze and pupil-size cues, infer information about the state of mind of the observed. In humans, pupil-size tends to mimic that of the observed. Here we tested whether pupil-mimicry exists in our closest relative, the chimpanzee (P. troglodytes). We conjectured that if pupil-mimicry has adaptive value, e.g. to promote swift communication of inner states and facilitate shared understanding and coordination, pupil-mimicry should emerge within but not across species. Pupillometry data was collected from human and chimpanzee subjects while they observed images of the eyes of both species with dilating/constricting pupils. Both species showed enhanced pupil-mimicry with members of their own species, with effects being strongest in humans and chimpanzee mothers. Pupil-mimicry may be deeply-rooted, but probably gained importance from the point in human evolution where the morphology of our eyes became more prominent. Humans' white sclera surrounding the iris, and the fine muscles around their eyes facilitate non-verbal communication via eye signals. Public Library of Science 2014-08-20 /pmc/articles/PMC4139319/ /pubmed/25140998 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0104886 Text en © 2014 Kret et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Kret, Mariska E.
Tomonaga, Masaki
Matsuzawa, Tetsuro
Chimpanzees and Humans Mimic Pupil-Size of Conspecifics
title Chimpanzees and Humans Mimic Pupil-Size of Conspecifics
title_full Chimpanzees and Humans Mimic Pupil-Size of Conspecifics
title_fullStr Chimpanzees and Humans Mimic Pupil-Size of Conspecifics
title_full_unstemmed Chimpanzees and Humans Mimic Pupil-Size of Conspecifics
title_short Chimpanzees and Humans Mimic Pupil-Size of Conspecifics
title_sort chimpanzees and humans mimic pupil-size of conspecifics
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4139319/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25140998
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0104886
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