Institute for Mind and Biology, University of Chicago, 940 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Proc Biol Sci. 2011 Nov 22;278(1723):3452-8. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2011.0052. Epub 2011 Apr 6.
Animals signal their reproductive status in a range of sensory modalities. Highly social animals, such as primates, have access not only to such signals, but also to prior experience of other group members. Whether this experience affects how animals interpret reproductive signals is unknown. Here, we explore whether familiarity with a specific female affects a male's ability to assess that female's reproductive signals. We used a preferential looking procedure to assess signal discrimination in free-ranging rhesus macaques, a species in which female facial luminance covaries with reproductive status. We collected images of female faces throughout the reproductive cycle, and using faecal hormone analysis to determine ovulation, categorized images as coming from a female's pre-fertile, ovulating, or post-fertile period. We printed colour-calibrated stimuli of these faces, reproducing stimuli perceptually the same in colour and luminance to the original appearance of females. These images were presented to males who were either unfamiliar or familiar with stimuli females. Overall, males distinguished ovulatory from pre-ovulatory faces. However, a significant proportion of males did so only among males familiar with stimuli females. These experiments demonstrate that familiarity may increase a receiver's ability to use a social partner's signals to discern their reproductive status.
动物通过多种感官模式来传达其繁殖状态。高度社会化的动物，如灵长类动物，不仅能够接收到这些信号，还能够从其他群体成员那里获得先前的经验。然而，这种经验是否会影响动物对繁殖信号的解读尚不清楚。在这里，我们探讨了对特定雌性的熟悉程度是否会影响雄性评估该雌性繁殖信号的能力。我们使用偏好性观察程序来评估自由放养的恒河猴的信号辨别能力，在这种物种中，雌性面部亮度与繁殖状态相关。我们在整个繁殖周期中收集了女性面部的图像，并通过粪便激素分析确定排卵，将图像分类为处于非排卵期、排卵期或排卵期后。我们打印了这些面部的色彩校准刺激物，在颜色和亮度上再现了与女性真实外观相同的刺激物。这些图像呈现给了雄性，这些雄性对刺激物雌性有陌生或熟悉之分。总的来说，雄性能够区分出排卵期和非排卵期的面孔。然而，很大一部分雄性只有在熟悉刺激物雌性的情况下才能做到这一点。这些实验表明，熟悉度可能会提高接收者使用社交伴侣的信号来辨别其繁殖状态的能力。
