Centre for Neuroscience and Animal Behaviour, School of Science and Technology, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
Anim Cogn. 2010 May;13(3):555-64. doi: 10.1007/s10071-009-0306-0. Epub 2010 Jan 6.
The ability to perceive biological motion (BM) has been demonstrated in a number of species including humans but the few studies of non-human primates have been relatively inconclusive. We investigated whether common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) are able to perceive biological motion, using a novel method to test non-human primates. Marmosets (7 male and 7 female) were trained to remove a cover from a container and look inside it, revealing a computer screen. Then they were presented with images on this computer screen consisting of a novel BM pattern (a walking hen) and 4 manipulations of that pattern (a static frame of this pattern and inverted, scrambled, and rotating versions of the pattern). The behavioural responses of the marmosets were recorded and used to assess discrimination between stimuli. BM was attended to by females but not males, as shown by active inspection behaviour, mainly movement of the head towards the stimulus. Females paid significantly less attention to all of the other stimuli. This indicates the females' ability to attend to biological motion. Females showed slightly more attention to the inverted BM than to the static, scrambled, and rotating patterns. The males were less attentive to all of the stimuli than were the females and, unlike the females, responded to all stimuli in a similar manner. This sex difference could be due to an inability of males to recognise BM altogether or to a lesser amount of curiosity. Considered together with the findings of previous studies on chicks and humans, the results of the present study support the notion of a common mechanism across species for the detection of BM.
许多物种（包括人类）都具有感知生物运动（BM）的能力，但对非人类灵长类动物的少数研究还没有定论。我们使用一种新的方法来测试非人类灵长类动物，研究了普通狨猴（Callithrix jacchus）是否能够感知生物运动。训练狨猴（7 只雄性和 7 只雌性）从容器上取下盖子并查看里面，露出电脑屏幕。然后，他们在电脑屏幕上看到了图像，包括一个新颖的 BM 模式（一个行走的母鸡）和该模式的 4 种操作（该模式的静态帧以及该模式的反转、打乱和旋转版本）。记录了狨猴的行为反应，并用于评估对刺激的区分。女性关注生物运动，而男性则没有，这表现为主要是头部朝向刺激物的主动检查行为。女性对所有其他刺激的关注度都较低。这表明女性有能力关注生物运动。女性对反转的 BM 比静态、打乱和旋转模式更关注。与女性相比，男性对所有刺激的关注度都较低，而且与女性不同，他们对所有刺激的反应方式都相似。这种性别差异可能是由于男性根本无法识别 BM，或者是由于好奇心较小。结合之前对小鸡和人类的研究结果，本研究的结果支持了在物种之间存在用于检测 BM 的共同机制的观点。
