Personality, cognition and behavior in chimpanzees: a new approach based on Eysenck's model

Maria Padrell; David Riba; Yulán Úbeda; Federica Amici; Miquel Llorente

doi:10.7717/peerj.9707

Personality, cognition and behavior in chimpanzees: a new approach based on Eysenck's model

PeerJ. 2020 Aug 17:8:e9707. doi: 10.7717/peerj.9707. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Maria Padrell^{1

2}, David Riba^{2

3}, Yulán Úbeda¹, Federica Amici⁴, Miquel Llorente^{1

2

5}

Affiliations

¹ Facultat d'Educació i Psicologia, Universitat de Girona, Girona, Spain.
² Unitat de Recerca i Etologia, Fundació Mona, Girona, Spain.
³ Facultat de Lletres, Universitat de Girona, Girona, Spain.
⁴ Research Group "Primate Behavioural Ecology", Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
⁵ IPRIM, Institut de Recerca i Estudis en Primatologia, Girona, Spain.

Abstract

Personality has been linked to individual variation in interest and performance in cognitive tasks. Nevertheless, this relationship is still poorly understood and has rarely been considered in animal cognition research. Here, we investigated the association between personality and interest, motivation and task performance in 13 sanctuary chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) housed at Fundació Mona (Spain). Personality was assessed with a 12-item questionnaire based on Eysenck's Psychoticism-Extraversion-Neuroticism model completed by familiar keepers and researchers. Additionally, personality ratings were compared to behavioral observations conducted over an 11-year period. Experimental tasks consisted in several puzzle boxes that needed to be manipulated in order to obtain a food reward. Dependent variables included participation (as an indicator of interest), success and latency (as measures of performance), and losing contact with the task (as an indicator of motivation). As predicted, we obtained significant correlations between Eysenck's personality traits and observed behaviors, although some expected associations were absent. We then analyzed data using Generalized Linear Mixed Models, running a model for each dependent variable. In both sexes, lower Extraversion and lower Dominance were linked to a higher probability of success, but this effect was stronger in females. Furthermore, higher Neuropsychoticism predicted higher probability of success in females, but not in males. The probability of losing contact with the task was higher in young chimpanzees, and in those rated lower on Extraversion and higher on Dominance. Additionally, chimpanzees rated higher on Neuropsychoticism were also more likely to stop interacting with the task, but again this was more evident in females. Participation and latency were not linked to any personality trait. Our findings show that the PEN may be a good model to describe chimpanzee personality, and stress the importance of considering personality when interpreting the results of cognitive research in non-human primates.

Keywords: Behavior; Chimpanzees; Cognition; Cognitive research; Performance; Personality.

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (HAR2009-07223/HIST), Ministerio de Economía y Competividad (HAR2012-32548), Generalitat de Catalunya (2009 SGR-188; 2014 SGR-899; 2017 SGR-1040), Universitat Rovira i Virgili (2009AIRE-05; 2005ACCES-13), and “la Caixa” Foundation (EMCOBA Project), under agreement LCF/PR/PR17/11120020 to Maria Padrell and Miquel Llorente. Funding 1-5 were all granted to Fundació MONA with Miquel Llorente being head of research at that time. Miquel Llorente benefited from a research grant from the IPHES between 2006 and 2009, and David Riba’s research was funded by the Fundación Atapuerca between 2010 and 2013. Miquel Llorente is a Serra Húnter Fellow (Generalitat de Catalunya). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.