Abstract
Eye contact and pointing are typical gestures in order to direct another individual's attention toward a target. We previously investigated on Japanese monkeys whether joint attention ability encouraged by eye contact and pointing was associated with the imitation of human's actions. The monkeys with the joint attention skills showed the imitation of human's actions. In the current study, we investigated on a monkey whether joint attention ability also facilitated the imitation of human body-movements. Results showed that the monkey being taught eye contact and pointing showed the imitation of human body-movements. These results suggest that the monkeys have basic potential for following another individual's motion, and that what imitation expresses depends on where the monkeys are paying attention. Thus, eye contact and pointing are suitable for directing the monkey's attention toward the human.
Highlights
The ability of gaze-following has been shown in humans and monkeys [1,2,3,4]
We previously showed that the monkey reproduced the human body-movements when his head was restrained in order to direct his attention toward it, we did not investigate whether joint attention ability was associated with the imitation of body-movements
We investigate it by using the joint attention skills including eye contact and pointing in order to prompt the monkey to direct his attention toward the body parts and movements
Summary
The ability of gaze-following has been shown in humans and monkeys [1,2,3,4]. Joint attention is defined as a process which two individuals attend to a same object while one is following the other’s attention [1,5,6]. A monkey altered her behavior to a human depending on whether the human’s eyes were disguised or not, and pointed at a target at which the human gazed or pointed From those results, we hypothesized that joint attention ability was pivotal for imitation in the monkeys, and investigated further on Japanese monkeys whether joint attention ability was associated with the imitation of human’s actions [9]. The monkeys who had learned the joint attention skills including eye contact and pointing showed it, the monkey who had insufficient eye contact did not but he reproduced the human body-movements. The latter monkey imitated the human’s actions only after acquired sufficient joint attention. Results from a series of our studies support our hypothesis [9]
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