Abstract / Description of output
Short-term memory is implicated in a range of cognitive abilities and is critical for understanding primatecognitive evolution. To investigate the effects of phylogeny, ecology and sociality on short-term memory, we testedthe largest and most diverse primate sample to date (421 non-human primates across 41 species) in an experimentaldelayed-response task. Our results confirm previous findings that longer delays decrease memory performance acrossspecies and taxa. Our analyses demonstrate a considerable contribution of phylogeny over ecological and social factorson the distribution of short-term memory performance in primates; closely related species had more similar short-termmemory abilities. Overall, individuals in the branch of Hominoidea performed better compared to Cercopithecoidea,who in turn performed above Platyrrhini and Strepsirrhini. Interdependencies between phylogeny and socioecologyof a given species presented an obstacle to disentangling the effects of each of these factors on the evolution of short-term memory capacity. However, this study offers an important step forward in understanding the interspecies andindividual variation in short-term memory ability by providing the first phylogenetic reconstruction of this trait’sevolutionary history. The dataset constitutes a unique resource for studying the evolution of primate cognition and therole of short-term memory in other cognitive abilities.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 428-516 |
Journal | Animal Behavior and Cognition |
Volume | 9 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 1 Nov 2022 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2022 |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- cognitive evolution
- short-term memory
- primate cognition
- phylogenetic analysis