Probing the processing of facial expressions in monkeys via time perception and eye tracking

Xin-He Liu; Lu Gan; Zhi-Ting Zhang; Pan-Ke Yu; Ji Dai

doi:10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2023.003

Volume 44 Issue 5

Sep. 2023

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Xin-He Liu, Lu Gan, Zhi-Ting Zhang, Pan-Ke Yu, Ji Dai. Probing the processing of facial expressions in monkeys via time perception and eye tracking. Zoological Research, 2023, 44(5): 882-893. doi: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2023.003

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Xin-He Liu, Lu Gan, Zhi-Ting Zhang, Pan-Ke Yu, Ji Dai. Probing the processing of facial expressions in monkeys via time perception and eye tracking. Zoological Research, 2023, 44(5): 882-893. doi: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2023.003

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Probing the processing of facial expressions in monkeys via time perception and eye tracking

doi: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2023.003

Xin-He Liu^{1, 2, 3},
Lu Gan⁴,
Zhi-Ting Zhang^{1, 2, 3},
Pan-Ke Yu^{1, 5},
Ji Dai^{1, 2, 3, 5
,
,}

1.
Shenzhen Technological Research Center for Primate Translational Medicine, Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China
2.
CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Connectome and Manipulation, Brain Cognition and Brain Disease Institute, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China
3.
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Connectome and Behavior, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China
4.
Research Center for Medical Artificial Intelligence, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China
5.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
X.H.L. and J.D. designed the experiment; X.H.L., L.G., Z.T.Z., and P.K.Y. collected the data; X.H.L. and J.D. performed the analysis; X.H.L. and J.D. wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Funds: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U20A2017), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2022A1515010134, 2022A1515110598), Youth Innovation Promotion Association of Chinese Academy of Sciences (2017120), Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science–Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institutions (NYKFKT2019009), and Shenzhen Technological Research Center for Primate Translational Medicine (F-2021-Z99-504979)

More Information

Corresponding author: E-mail: ji.dai@siat.ac.cn
Received Date: 2023-06-07
Accepted Date: 2023-08-07

Published Online: 2023-08-04

Publish Date: 2023-09-18

Abstract

Abstract

Accurately recognizing facial expressions is essential for effective social interactions. Non-human primates (NHPs) are widely used in the study of the neural mechanisms underpinning facial expression processing, yet it remains unclear how well monkeys can recognize the facial expressions of other species such as humans. In this study, we systematically investigated how monkeys process the facial expressions of conspecifics and humans using eye-tracking technology and sophisticated behavioral tasks, namely the temporal discrimination task (TDT) and face scan task (FST). We found that monkeys showed prolonged subjective time perception in response to Negative facial expressions in monkeys while showing longer reaction time to Negative facial expressions in humans. Monkey faces also reliably induced divergent pupil contraction in response to different expressions, while human faces and scrambled monkey faces did not. Furthermore, viewing patterns in the FST indicated that monkeys only showed bias toward emotional expressions upon observing monkey faces. Finally, masking the eye region marginally decreased the viewing duration for monkey faces but not for human faces. By probing facial expression processing in monkeys, our study demonstrates that monkeys are more sensitive to the facial expressions of conspecifics than those of humans, thus shedding new light on inter-species communication through facial expressions between NHPs and humans.
- Monkey,
- Facial expression,
- Time perception,
- Eye-tracking,
- Pupil size

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References(53)

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