The evolution of primate short-term memory

Citation

Primates M, Aguenounon G, Allritz M, Altschul D, Ballesta S, Beaud A, Bohn M, Bornbusch S, Brandão A, Brooks J, Buhnyar T, Burkart J, Bustamente L, Call J & Canteloup C (2022) The evolution of primate short-term memory. Animal Behavior and Cognition, 9, pp. 428-516. https://doi.org/10.26451/abc.09.04.06.2022

Abstract
– Short-term memory is implicated in a range of cognitive abilities and is critical for understanding primate cognitive evolution. To investigate the effects of phylogeny, ecology and sociality on short-term memory, we tested the largest and most diverse primate sample to date (421 non-human primates across 41 species) in an experimental delayed-response task. Our results confirm previous findings that longer delays decrease memory performance across species and taxa. Our analyses demonstrate a considerable contribution of phylogeny over ecological and social factors on the distribution of short-term memory performance in primates; closely related species had more similar short-term memory abilities. Overall, individuals in the branch of Hominoidea performed better compared to Cercopithecoidea, who in turn performed above Platyrrhini and Strepsirrhini. Interdependencies between phylogeny and socioecology of a given species presented an obstacle to disentangling the effects of each of these factors on the evolution of shortterm memory capacity. However, this study offers an important step forward in understanding the interspecies and individual variation in short-term memory ability by providing the first phylogenetic reconstruction of this trait’s evolutionary history. The dataset constitutes a unique resource for studying the evolution of primate cognition and the role of short-term memory in other cognitive abilities.

Keywords
Cognitive evolution; Short-term memory; Primate cognition; Phylogenetic analysis

Notes
Additional authors; Chuangshi Cao, Kai R. Caspar, Diana da Silva, Alexandra A. de Sousa, Sarah E. DeTroy, Shona Duguid, Timothy M. Eppley, Claudia Fichtel, Julia Fischer, Chi Gong, James A. Grange, Nicholas M. Grebe, Daniel Hanus, Daniel Haun, Lou M. Haux, Yseult Héjja Brichard, Annabella Helman, Istvan Hernadi, R. Adriana Hernandez-Aguilar, Esther Herrmann, Lydia M. Hopper, Lauren H. Howard, Lei Huang, Sarah M. Huskisson, Ivo Jacobs, Zhiyong Jin, Marine Joly, Fumihiro Kano, Stefanie Keupp, Evelin Kiefer, Balázs Knakker, Katalin Kóczán, Larissa Kraus, Sze Chai Kwok, Marie Lefrançois, Laura Lewis, Siyi Liu, Miquel Llorente, Elizabeth Lonsdorf, Louise Loyant, Katarzyna Majecka, Luke Maurits, Hélène Meunier, Flávia Mobili, Luca Morino, Alba Motes Rodrigo, Vincent Nijman, Caroline Nkov Ihomi, Tomas Persson, Dariusz Pietraszewski, Juan Felipe Reátiga Parrish, Anthony Roig, Alejandro Sánchez-Amaro, Yutaro Sato, Gabriela-Alina Sauciuc, Allie E. Schrock, Manon K. Schweinfurth, Amanda Seed, Caroline L. Shearer, Vedrana Šlipogor, Yanjie Su, Kirsten Sutherland, Jingzhi Tan, Derry Taylor, Camille A. Troisi, Christoph J. Völter, Elizabeth Warren, Julia Watzek, and Pauline Zablocki-Thomas

Journal
Animal Behavior and Cognition: Volume 9

People

Dr Alejandro Sanchez Amaro

Lecturer in Psychology, Psychology