Social influence in manipulations of a capuchin monkey raised in a human environment: A preliminary case study

This preliminary study reports manipulations in an 8-month infant capuchin monkey,Cebus apella, confronted with a variety of objects, during five 2-hour sessions. This subject is raised in a human environment as it participates to the “Aide Simienne aux Personnes Handicapées (Kerpape)” project. Objects have been chosen in order to expose the capuchin to manipulations it will be asked to perform when placed with a quadriplegic. This paper reports the analysis of five hours of video recording. During two sub-sessions within an experimental session, the “human mother” pointed the objects to the monkey, sequentially, either with a vocal designation or not. The results show that the monkey tends to contact more objects and manipulates them more when they have been previously designated by the “mother.” This suggests a form of social facilitation. There is no evidence for imitation.