The ability to inhibit impulses is related to social behavior in long-tailed macaques

Abstract

Performance in cognitive tasks has been linked to differences in species' social organization, yet to understand its function its relationship to within-species variation in behavior should also be explored. One important cognitive capacity, the ability to inhibit impulses, is typically better in egalitarian than despotic primate species and in primate species with strong fission-fusion dynamics. A different line of research indicates that a high ability to inhibit impulses is related to less aggressive behavior and more socio-positive behavior. However, within species the relationship between performance on cognitive inhibition tasks and variation in social behavior remains to be explored. Here we investigate how performance in a typical inhibition task in cognitive research is related to aggressive and socio-positive behavior in despotic long-tailed macaques. Twenty individuals living in two naturalistic mixed-sex groups were tested with the Plexiglass Hole Task. Aggressive behavior and three types of socio-positive behavior (neutral/friendly approaches, socio-positive signaling, and grooming others) among group members were measured. Individuals differed in their ability to inhibit impulses. Individuals that were not good at inhibiting impulses showed higher rates of aggressive behavior, but also more socio-positive signals, whereas inhibition was not related to neutral/friendly approaches and grooming. These results confirm the positive link between impulsiveness and aggression. In addition, the results indicate that some social-positive behavior may be enhanced when inhibition is limited. In this species, benefits potentially derived from aggression and socio-positive signals match a low ability to inhibit impulses, suggesting that a low ability to inhibit impulses may actually be advantageous. To understand differences between species in cognitive skills, understanding the benefits of variation in a cognitive capacity within a species is crucial.