The influence of testosterone on cognitive performance in bonobos and chimpanzees

Abstract

Levels of the steroid hormone testosterone have been found to impact diverse features of cognition from spatial memory to decision-making regarding risk, both in humans and other animals. However less is known about whether closely-related species differ in their testosterone-cognition relationships in line with pressures shaping each species’ cognitive evolution. We therefore examined relationships between testosterone and cognition in two-closely related species that differ markedly in their social behaviour, cognition, and patterns of testosterone production: bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). We presented individuals of both species with a battery of 16 cognitive tasks and determined whether performance on these tasks correlated with average testosterone level. We found that among male chimpanzees, high levels of testosterone correlated with higher performance in numerous tasks, including tasks assessing spatial cognition and physical cognitive abilities more broadly. Meanwhile, in male bonobos we found no correlations between testosterone and performance on the cognitive tasks, and found no correlations in females of either species. Building on prior comparative research, these results suggest that bonobos and chimpanzees differ critically in the proximate mechanisms influencing their cognitive capacities, and that in particular the role of testosterone in shaping behaviour and cognition differs dramatically between the two species.