Chimpanzees Rarely Settle on Consistent Patterns of Play in the Hawk Dove, Assurance, and Prisoner's Dilemma Games, in a Token Exchange Task
Games derived from experimental economics can be used to directly compare decision-making behavior across primate species, including humans. For example, the use of coordination games, such as the Assurance game, has shown that a variety of primate species can coordinate; however, the mechanism by w...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Animal Behavior and Cognition
2019-02-01
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| Series: | Animal Behavior and Cognition |
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| Online Access: | http://www.animalbehaviorandcognition.org/article.php?id=1163 |
| _version_ | 1828826351341142016 |
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| author | Katie Hall Mackenzie Smith Jamie L. Russell Susan P. Lambeth Steven J. Schapiro Sarah F. Brosnan |
| author_facet | Katie Hall Mackenzie Smith Jamie L. Russell Susan P. Lambeth Steven J. Schapiro Sarah F. Brosnan |
| author_sort | Katie Hall |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Games derived from experimental economics can be used to directly compare decision-making behavior across primate species, including humans. For example, the use of coordination games, such as the Assurance game, has shown that a variety of primate species can coordinate; however, the mechanism by which they do so appears to differ across species. Recently, these games have been extended to explore anti-coordination and cooperation in monkeys, with evidence that they play the Nash equilibria in sequential games in these other contexts. In the current paper, we use the same methods to explore chimpanzees’ behavior in the Assurance Game; an anti-coordination game, the Hawk Dove game; and a cooperation game with a temptation to defect, the Prisoner’s Dilemma game. We predicted that they would consistently play the Nash equilibria, as do the monkeys, and that, as in previous work, the subjects’ level of experience with cognitive experiments would impact performance. Surprisingly, few of our pairs consistently played the same outcome (i.e., no statistically significant preferences), although those who did showed evidence consistent with Nash equilibria play, the same pattern seen more consistently in the monkeys. We consider reasons for their inconsistent performance; for instance, perhaps it was due to lack of interest in a task that rewarded them almost every trial no matter what option they chose, although this does not explain why they were inconsistent when the monkeys were not. A second goal of our study was to ascertain the effects of exogenous oxytocin in their decision making in one population. In line with recent work showing complex effects of oxytocin on social behavior, we found no effect on subjects’ outcomes. We consider possible explanations for this as well. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T14:38:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-41b37c0b585d4855a83f0d292eda92a1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2372-5052 2372-4323 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T14:38:18Z |
| publishDate | 2019-02-01 |
| publisher | Animal Behavior and Cognition |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animal Behavior and Cognition |
| spelling | doaj.art-41b37c0b585d4855a83f0d292eda92a12022-12-22T00:21:20ZengAnimal Behavior and CognitionAnimal Behavior and Cognition2372-50522372-43232019-02-0161487010.26451/abc.06.01.04.2019Chimpanzees Rarely Settle on Consistent Patterns of Play in the Hawk Dove, Assurance, and Prisoner's Dilemma Games, in a Token Exchange TaskKatie Hall Mackenzie Smith Jamie L. Russell Susan P. Lambeth Steven J. Schapiro Sarah F. Brosnan Games derived from experimental economics can be used to directly compare decision-making behavior across primate species, including humans. For example, the use of coordination games, such as the Assurance game, has shown that a variety of primate species can coordinate; however, the mechanism by which they do so appears to differ across species. Recently, these games have been extended to explore anti-coordination and cooperation in monkeys, with evidence that they play the Nash equilibria in sequential games in these other contexts. In the current paper, we use the same methods to explore chimpanzees’ behavior in the Assurance Game; an anti-coordination game, the Hawk Dove game; and a cooperation game with a temptation to defect, the Prisoner’s Dilemma game. We predicted that they would consistently play the Nash equilibria, as do the monkeys, and that, as in previous work, the subjects’ level of experience with cognitive experiments would impact performance. Surprisingly, few of our pairs consistently played the same outcome (i.e., no statistically significant preferences), although those who did showed evidence consistent with Nash equilibria play, the same pattern seen more consistently in the monkeys. We consider reasons for their inconsistent performance; for instance, perhaps it was due to lack of interest in a task that rewarded them almost every trial no matter what option they chose, although this does not explain why they were inconsistent when the monkeys were not. A second goal of our study was to ascertain the effects of exogenous oxytocin in their decision making in one population. In line with recent work showing complex effects of oxytocin on social behavior, we found no effect on subjects’ outcomes. We consider possible explanations for this as well.http://www.animalbehaviorandcognition.org/article.php?id=1163CoordinationHawk Dove gameAssurance gamePrisoner's dilemmaPan troglodytesexperimental economicsintranasal oxytocin |
| spellingShingle | Katie Hall Mackenzie Smith Jamie L. Russell Susan P. Lambeth Steven J. Schapiro Sarah F. Brosnan Chimpanzees Rarely Settle on Consistent Patterns of Play in the Hawk Dove, Assurance, and Prisoner's Dilemma Games, in a Token Exchange Task Animal Behavior and Cognition Coordination Hawk Dove game Assurance game Prisoner's dilemma Pan troglodytes experimental economics intranasal oxytocin |
| title | Chimpanzees Rarely Settle on Consistent Patterns of Play in the Hawk Dove, Assurance, and Prisoner's Dilemma Games, in a Token Exchange Task |
| title_full | Chimpanzees Rarely Settle on Consistent Patterns of Play in the Hawk Dove, Assurance, and Prisoner's Dilemma Games, in a Token Exchange Task |
| title_fullStr | Chimpanzees Rarely Settle on Consistent Patterns of Play in the Hawk Dove, Assurance, and Prisoner's Dilemma Games, in a Token Exchange Task |
| title_full_unstemmed | Chimpanzees Rarely Settle on Consistent Patterns of Play in the Hawk Dove, Assurance, and Prisoner's Dilemma Games, in a Token Exchange Task |
| title_short | Chimpanzees Rarely Settle on Consistent Patterns of Play in the Hawk Dove, Assurance, and Prisoner's Dilemma Games, in a Token Exchange Task |
| title_sort | chimpanzees rarely settle on consistent patterns of play in the hawk dove assurance and prisoner s dilemma games in a token exchange task |
| topic | Coordination Hawk Dove game Assurance game Prisoner's dilemma Pan troglodytes experimental economics intranasal oxytocin |
| url | http://www.animalbehaviorandcognition.org/article.php?id=1163 |
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