Institute for Advanced Study, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2024 Nov 19;14(1):26804. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-77912-7.
The Social Intelligence Hypothesis predicts that complex social environments promote higher cognitive capacities. This hypothesis is often tested by comparing species or conspecific groups with varying group sizes or social structures. However, individual social environments differ not only among species or groups but also within the same group. We examined the relationship between social centrality and cognitive ability in wild Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata). We created a grooming network using data from 196 adult macaques and calculated social centrality for each individual. We then tested the macaques with a cognitive test battery to assess their abilities in social, physical, and inhibitory control domains. Our findings revealed that social centrality was uniquely associated with inhibitory control performance, particularly in the behavioral inhibition task, but not with other cognitive domains. This suggests that inhibitory control, a key component of executive functions, plays a pivotal role in the social lives of wild Japanese macaques.
社会智力假说预测，复杂的社会环境会促进更高的认知能力。这一假说通常通过比较具有不同群体大小或社会结构的物种或同种群体来验证。然而，个体的社会环境不仅在物种或群体之间存在差异，在同一群体内部也是如此。我们研究了野生日本猕猴（Macaca fuscata）的社会中心度与认知能力之间的关系。我们利用来自 196 只成年猕猴的数据创建了一个梳理网络，并为每个个体计算了社会中心度。然后，我们用认知测试套件对猕猴进行了测试，以评估它们在社会、身体和抑制控制领域的能力。我们的研究结果表明，社会中心度与抑制控制表现具有独特的相关性，特别是在行为抑制任务中，但与其他认知领域无关。这表明，抑制控制是执行功能的关键组成部分，在野生日本猕猴的社会生活中起着关键作用。
