Data from: Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) strategically manipulate their environment to deny conspecifics access to food
Data files
Aug 05, 2024 version files 63.64 KB
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README.md
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seesawdata_scirep.csv
Abstract
Humans modify their environment to grant or prevent others’ access to valuable resources, for example by using locks. We tested whether sanctuary-living chimpanzees (N=10) would flexibly modify their environment to either allow or deny a dominant conspecific access to a shared food source by giving them the option to change a food reward’s pathway prior to releasing it. The food could end up in one of two locations: one was accessible to both the subject and a dominant conspecific, the other one was only accessible to the subject. We further manipulated the extent of inhibitory control needed for modifying the pathway. Our subjects used the apparatus competitively to monopolize food but changed the pathway less often in trials with high inhibitory demands. We further show how inhibitory task demands in a social context influence chimpanzees’ future planning. Our results show that chimpanzees will strategically manipulate their environment to maximize their own and deny a dominant conspecific access to food.
README: Data for Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) strategically manipulate their environment to deny conspecifics access to food
This dataset contains the test trial data from our behavioral study.
Description of the data and file structure
The .csv file contains the dataset from the test trials used for our analyses. Each row corresponds to a trial. The spreadsheet contains the following variables:
Video: name of the video that was used for coding the behavior in the trial
Date: date of trial in MM/DD/YYYY format
Subject: Subject's name
Age: Subject's age in years
Sex: Subject's sex (female/male)
Session: The session the trial belongs to (1-4)
Randomization: randomization used for session (pseudo-randomized for determining and counter-balancing the order of trial types within session, 4 randomizations)
Reward: Reward type used for trial (peanuts/banana)
Conspecific: Name of the dominant conspecific paired with subject
Conspecific.side: Location (left vs. right adjacent room) the conspecific was kept for the session
Trial: Number of trial within session (1-12)
Absolute.trial.subject: The absolute number of trials the subject participated in (1-48)
Inhibitory.demands: The inhibitory demands for reorienting the seesaw for the trial (low/high)
Initial.seesaw.orientation: Location that the seesaw was oriented towards at the beginning of the trial in relation to conspecific location (Mutual Side/Solo Side)
Initial.seesaw.orientation.side: Absolute location the seesaw was oriented towards at the beginning of the trial (left/right)
Subject.side: Absolute location of the subject at the beginning of the trial (left/right)
Reorienting: Indicates whether the subject reoriented the seesaw within the trial (yes/no)
Trial.repeat: Indicates whether the trial was repeated due to subject timeout, apparatus failure or researcher mistake (yes/no)
Food.subject: Amount of food pieces the subject took during trial (maximum of 1 for banana trials and 5 for peanut trials)
Food.conspecific: Amount of food pieces the conspecific took during trial (maximum of 1 for banana trials and 5 for peanut trials)
Inhibited.pulling: Indicates whether the subject inhibited pulling the release mechanism during the trial (yes/no)
Touch.ineffective.rope: Indicates whether the subject touched or pulled the ineffective seesaw rope prior to releasing the food, i.e., the rope attached to the lowered end of the seesaw (yes/no)
Description of the Analysis Code
The dataset was analyzed in R Studio using R markdown. The .RMD file contains the code for both GLMMs and the main plot of the descriptive results.