Assessing the motivational value of infant video clips on chimpanzees through discrimination learning task

Abstract

The motivational value of visual infant stimuli in humans is considered to encourage parental behavior. To explore the evolutionary roots of this preference for infants, we examined the reward value of conspecific infant videos compared to adult ones in nine chimpanzees. We employed a novel approach, a simultaneous discrimination task with differential sensory reinforcement. In Experiments 1 and 2, we tested if watching conspecific infant videos is more rewarding than watching adult ones. Participants were required to discriminate between two visual stimuli by a touch panel task. In video reward trials, a video clip featuring a chimpanzee infant followed a correct choice, while one featuring an adult followed an incorrect choice. However, the percentage of correct choices did not significantly differ from chance except in one chimpanzee, indicating that chimpanzees did not exhibit a preference for watching infant videos over those of adult. In Experiment 3, we tested if chimpanzees prefer conspecific videos over a blank screen; however, we did not find evidence either at a group level. These results suggest that the incentive salience of infant stimuli may not be universally compelling across species. Additionally, we discuss the limitations of the task using sensory reinforcement.