Chimpanzees have shown improved performance on challenging computer-based tasks when observed by humans, a study published in iScience on November 8 reveals. Conducted at Kyoto University, the research observed chimpanzees undertaking number-based tasks on touchscreens, monitored under different audience conditions. It was found that their performance increased with the task’s difficulty when the number of human observers also rose. However, for simpler tasks, chimpanzees performed worse in the presence of larger audiences, pointing to a nuanced relationship between observation and performance.

A Unique Setting for Chimpanzee-Human Interaction

Researchers, including Christen Lin of Kyoto University, explored whether chimpanzees experience an “audience effect,” typically attributed to reputation management in humans. The study, led by Shinya Yamamoto and Akiho Muramatsu, focused on chimpanzees accustomed to daily interactions with humans and familiar with touchscreen tasks for food rewards. Given the animals’ comfortable coexistence with humans, the researchers saw an opportunity to examine if audience dynamics might influence their task performance, as it does in humans.

Complex Effects of Human Observation

During thousands of sessions spanning six years, chimpanzees’ task performances were measured across various task difficulties. The study revealed a distinct improvement in complex tasks when observed by a larger human audience, while simpler tasks saw a decline in accuracy under similar conditions. The researchers found this surprising, as it indicated a level of social awareness previously thought to be more exclusive to humans.

Implications for Understanding Social Dynamics in Primates

The findings suggest that the impact of being watched, even by another species, may not be unique to humans. As noted by Yamamoto, the influence of an audience on performance in non-human primates provides valuable insights into the social behaviours that may have shaped early primate societies, long before human reputation-based systems emerged. Further study could help understand the evolutionary basis of this social trait in great apes.