A Literature Review of The Study of Hormonal and Emotional Responses in Baboons
Cognitive ethology is a branch of study and research concerned with the influence of conscious awareness and intention on the behavior of an animal. As a species, humans are consciously aware of what they are thinking, what is happening in the immediate surroundings, and more often than not are able to control responses based on these changes. The question arose if the same was the case for animals. Given that primates are of close genetic relationship to humans, many scientists thought it might be beneficial to analyze the emotional responses to certain events in baboons. In humans, depression and feelings of loneliness are often coupled with increased cortisol production, declines in immune responses and, in extreme cases, increased mortality. Many scientists were interested in studying if the same would happen for baboons. Therefore, many researchers have conducted studies analyzing the emotional responses to stress and depressing situations among primates and whether they were comparable to humans. Since primates are closely related to humans phylogenetically, and humans are emotionally complex, it makes sense that baboons would be too. Human responses are very tailored to the situation and the environment in which the response is triggered.
This literature review will explore the research of scientists conducting studies regarding the emotional responses and cognitive lives of baboons, demonstrating the techniques and methods that led to the extensive results and data achieved in the field of cognitive ethology. The topic of emotions in baboons is a widespread one; consequently, there are many different ways to study the responses. Hence, there are countless unique studies analyzing different aspects of baboon emotions ranging from response with respect to mood, to analyzing glucocorticoid levels. This review aims to provide an overview of the research consuming the studies of emotions and social relationships in baboons over the past several decades and suggest potential for the field in the future.
Methods
Yousri Marzouki and his team at Aix-Marseille University (2014) conducted research analyzing baboons’ response speed with relationship to their current mood. From the beginning, the group had noted that the positive or negative valence of our mood differentially affects our processing of the details of the environment and the way we respond to them. moods affect the performance of nonhuman primates tested in highly automatized tasks, as it does in humans during tasks with much higher cognitive demands. The team used six baboons which were subsequently observed every minute for three 30-minute sampling sessions each day. This procedural design allowed for the collection of a total of 4320 behavioral measures for the 6 baboons. The baboons reached an accuracy level of 96.0% correct on average. The ultimate goal of the study was to examine if baboons' affective state can influence their performance in a computerized task, following the predictions of the AAI (affect-as-information) model. The team analyzed the trials that immediately followed spontaneously expressed emotional behaviors, which were characterized as being negative, positive or neutral. The results showed a significant effect of their mood on baboons' response speed: the response times following negative behaviors are significantly slower than those of the neutral condition and those following positive behaviors. As predicted, positive moods exhibited the fastest response times. These findings revealed a universal and adaptive theory by which moods influence performance in various ecological contexts.
Similarly, the team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, under Anne Engh, was interested in researching the behavioral responses in baboons (2006). However, they focused their research on hormonal responses to predation in females. In humans, depression and sadness are associated with an increase in glucocorticoid (a type of steroid hormone) levels, though this increase can be diminished by social support. In order to examine the levels of glucocorticoids, they obtained fecal samples. Coupled with an increase in glucocorticoid levels, the grooming behaviors of free-ranging female baboons would vary. Females who had lost a close relative experienced a significant increase in glucocorticoid levels during the weeks following the death compared with the weeks before, whereas control females showed no such increase. Female baboons historically concentrate much of their grooming on their immediate family. However, females who had lost a close female relative did not experience a decrease in grooming rate and number of grooming partners; instead, both numbers increased after a relative's death, revealing the fact that female baboons often seek meaningful relationships as a coping mechanism. While the death of a close relative was clearly stressful over the short term, females appeared to compensate for this loss by broadening and strengthening their grooming networks. As a result, their glucocorticoid levels soon returned to a normal amount. The team subsequently concluded that when approached with a stressful or depressing situation, female baboons will change their grooming behaviors, seeking more partners to soften the effect of the loss.
Massimo Bardi, a professor at Randolph-Macon College, developed a team interested in studying maternal care and the development of stress responses in baboons (2005). The researchers utilized an experimental design that accounted for multiple sources of variation to help further understand the nature of stress responses and their relationship to the early childhood environment. A sample of baboons (n=73) was observed during the early phase of life in their social group, and then tested as juveniles in a challenging situation. Maternal cortisol levels were measured during the peripartum period (the period of time immediately after and the weeks following delivery). The challenging situation in which the individuals were isolated was designed to be a moderate source of psychological stress. Patterns during the stress test were “mapped” by multidimensional scaling (MDS). After the observation was made, the baboon was sedated, and a blood sample was taken to measure its cortisol levels. The results indicated that when juvenile baboons are confronted with a source of psychological stress, they show a multidimensional behavioral response. Different components of the multidimensional, or nonspecific, behavioral response were associated with the quality and quantity of the unique interactions with their mothers during early life. Juveniles whose mothers displayed higher levels of positive interaction were characterized by vigilant but less active reactions to the stress test, whereas juveniles of mothers that displayed high levels of stress‐related behaviors had higher cortisol and locomotion levels (Bardi, 2005).
Concluding
While the research teams analyzed different aspects of the emotional lives of baboons, they all reinforced the fact that primates, similar to humans, have the capacity for complex cognitive emotions. The teams, focused on the capacity for emotion, proved that humans are not the only species capable of feeling some type of emotional response. Baboons have been proven to form bonds with other members of their pack during times of distress and going forward researchers might be interested to test the strength of the bonds formed between to mates, or members of the same pack. Testing the strength of an emotional bond may be able to reveal more information previously unknown regarding the complexity of the emotional capacity of baboons.
Sources
Bardi, M., Bode, A. E., Ramirez, S. M., & Brent, L. Y. (2005). Maternal care and development of stress responses in baboons. American Journal of Primatology,66(3), 263-278. doi:10.1002/ajp.20143
Engh, A. L., Beehner, J. C., Bergman, T. J., Whitten, P. L., Hoffmeier, R. R., Seyfarth, R. M., & Cheney, D. L. (2006). Behavioural and hormonal responses to predation in female chacma baboons (Papio hamadryas ursinus). Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,273(1587), 707-712. doi:10.1098/rspb.2005.3378
Marzouki, Y., Gullstrand, J., Goujon, A., & Fagot, J. (2014). Baboons Response Speed Is Biased by Their Moods. PLoS ONE,9(7). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0102562
Post-Outline:
Proposition: This literature review will explore the research of scientists conducting studies regarding the emotional responses and cognitive lives of baboons, demonstrating the techniques and methods that led to the extensive results and data achieved in the field of cognitive ethology.
Audience: My main readership will be scholars and others interested in baboon emotions and cognition, including those in the fields that are exploring this topic: psychology and cognitive ethology. I think they will be very interested to learn about scholars in other fields who are working with baboons in this area, if they are not already aware of the different studies. Also, some people that may be interested might include: teachers, parents, and even scientists in other fields. My shadow audience includes the students in my animal emotions seminar, my professor, and any outside readers.
Genre: Scientific Literature Review
Motive of the Author: I am interested in baboon emotional responses and also in the field of cognitive ethology, so I am personally motivated to research and write about this topic.
Motive of the Reader: Those who are doing research regarding the emotional lives of animals would be motivated to read this to learn more about what other scholars are doing in this area of biological theories, either to learn about this topic or to supplement their knowledge of it. Others may feel compelled to read this literature review out of curiosity. Researchers doing new studies might get some interesting ideas from reading this.
Goal: My goal in this review is to provide a meaningful overview of the different methods and results of several studies concerning the emotional responses to stress and predation in baboons.
Plan: I plan to open by defining “cognitive ethology,” because it is not something a lot of people have heard of. From there I will present the work of the main scholars in each of the fields that are researching and studying baboon emotions. Finally, I will look to summarize and compare the implications of the current research on baboons.
Rhetorical Strategies: So that my review is easily understandable for non-academic readers and non-specialists, I am going to define all key terms as well as use easily understandable language. I am not sure how I will finally organize this for the most effective comprehension but will most likely do my first draft in order of date in which the studies were conducted.
Keywords: Stress, Emotions, Baboons, Hormones, Research, Studies, Ethics, Relationship
Proposition: An explanation of the research done on the structure and function of play by analyzing the common trends in the research of the structure and function along with describing common methods.
Paragraph 1: This paragraph is an introduction of the topic which starts with a general statement about cognitive ethology: what it is, why we are studying it, etc.
Function: Premises that lead to the proposition
Revision: Put less focus on what cognitive ethology and got rid of all first and second points of view.
Paragraph 2: This paragraph focuses on the field itself. It is broken down into how this review will be laid out, what will be discussed, and introduce further implications.
Function: Amplification and Proposition
Revision: Add more about possibility for the future and fix some grammar things.
Paragraph 3: This paragraph is about the study of mood affecting the responses and the reaction time in baboons. It starts with the reasons for the study followed by the approach and findings.
Function: Amplification/Evidence
Revision: Make it less of a summary and more of a synthesis. Connect more to otherresearch
Paragraph 4: This paragraph is about the study of behavioral responses and the idea of baboons forming meaningful emotional relationships. Methods, findings, and results of the study.
Function: Evidence and Amplification
Revision: Make it less of a research paper and more of a review
Paragraph 5: This paragraph discusses maternal effects on baboons. It ties together the hormonal responses and the emotional relationships.
Function: Evidence; connecting
Paragraph 6: This is my concluding paragraph tying together all aspects of the research and discussing the future for the field and studies of emotions in baboons.
Function: Reason and conclusion
Draft One
Cognitive ethology is a branch of study and research concerned with the influence of conscious awareness and intention on the behavior of an animal. As humans, we are consciously aware of what we are thinking, what is happening around us, and we often are able to control our responses based on these changes. Thus, the question arose if the same was the case for animals. Given that primates are of close genetic relationship to humans, many scientists thought it might be beneficial to analyze the emotional responses to certain events in baboons. In humans, depression and feelings of loneliness are often coupled with increased cortisol production, declines in immune responses and, in extreme cases, increased mortality. Many scientists were interested in studying if the same would happen for baboons. Therefore, many researchers have conducted studies analyzing the emotional responses to stress and depressing situations among primates and whether they were comparable to humans. Given that primates are very closely related to humans phylogenetically, and that humans are very complex emotionally, it makes sense that baboons would be too. Human responses are very tailored to the situation and the environment in which the response is triggered.
This literature review will explore the research of scientists conducting research regarding the emotional responses and cognitive lives of baboons, demonstrating the techniques and methods that led to the extensive results and data achieved by researchers in the field of cognitive ethology. Given that the topic of emotions in baboons is a widespread one, there are many different ways you can study the responses. Therefore, there are countless unique studies analyzing different aspects of baboon emotions ranging from response with respect to mood, to analyzing glucocorticoid levels.
Yousri Marzouki and his team at Aix-Marseille University (2014) conducted research analyzing baboons’ response speed with relationship to their current mood. From the beginning, the group had noted that the positive or negative valence of our mood differentially affects our processing of the details of the environment and the way we respond to them. moods affect the performance of nonhuman primates tested in highly automatized tasks, as it does in humans during tasks with much higher cognitive demands. The team used six baboons which were subsequently observed every minute for three 30-minute sampling sessions each day. This procedural design allowed for the collection of a total of 4320 behavioral measures for the 6 baboons. The baboons reached an accuracy level of 96.0% correct on average. The ultimate goal of the study was to examine if baboons' affective state can influence their performance in a computerized task, following the predictions of the AAI model. The team analyzed the trials that immediately followed spontaneously expressed emotional behaviors, which were characterized as being negative, positive or neutral. The results showed a significant effect of their mood on baboons' response speed: the response times following negative behaviors are significantly slower than those of the neutral condition and those following positive behaviors. As predicted, positive moods exhibited the fastest response times. These findings revealed a universal and adaptive theory by which moods influence performance in various ecological contexts.
Similarly, the team of researchers at the Univeristy of Pennsylvania, under Anne Engh, researched the behavioral responses in baboons (2006). However, they focused their research on hormonal responses to predation in females. In humans, depression and sadness are associated with an increase in glucocorticoid (a type of steroid hormone) levels, though this increase can be diminished by social support. In order to examine the levels of glucocorticoids, they obtained fecal samples. Coupled with an increase in glucocorticoid levels, the grooming behaviors of free-ranging female baboons would vary. Females who had lost a close relative experienced a significant increase in GC levels during the weeks following the death compared with the weeks before, whereas control females showed no such increase. Female baboons historically concentrate much of their grooming on their immediate family. However, females who had lost a close female relative did not experience a decrease in grooming rate and number of grooming partners; instead, both numbers increased increased after a relative's death, revealing the fact that female baboons often seek meaningful relationships as a coping mechanism. While the death of a close relative was clearly stressful over the short term, females appeared to compensate for this loss by broadening and strengthening their grooming networks. Perhaps as a result, their glucocorticoid levels soon returned to a normal amount. The team subsequently concluded that when approached with a stressful or depressing situation, female baboons will change their grooming behaviors, seeking more partners to soften the effect of the loss.
While the research teams analyzed different aspects of the emotional lives of baboons, they all reinforced the fact that primates, similar to humans, have the capacity for complex cognitive emotions.