Intentional gestural communication and discrimination of human attentional states in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)

The present study tested intentionality of a learned begging gesture and attention-reading abilities in rhesus macaques ( Macaca mulatta ). Subjects were trained to produce a begging gesture towards a hidden food reward that could be delivered by a human experimenter. More specifically, we investigated which attentional cues—body, face and/or eyes orientation of a human partner—were taken into account by the macaques in order to communicate with her. Our results provide strong evidence of intentional communication: the monkeys adjusted their behaviour to that of the partner. The latter’s attentional state influenced the monkeys’ likelihood of performing begging gestures and showing gaze alternation between the partner and the hidden food. By contrast, we found no evidence of attention-getting behaviours, persistence or elaboration of new communicative behaviours. Our results also showed that rhesus macaques discriminated gross cues including the presence, body and face orientation of the human experimenter but not her eyes. However, the monkeys emitted more gaze alternation and monitored the human’s attentional state more closely when she also displayed gaze alternation, suggesting an important role of joint attention in gestural communication.