Social play behaviour in young rhesus monkeys Macaca mulatta at three different ages: from the 3rd to the 6th month of life

This paper suggests that attachment, rejecting behaviour and independence initiatives among rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) constitute the most critical elements of mother-infant interactions. Results of previous studies of different family groups indicate that both the mothers' rejecting behaviour and the infants' independence initiatives (or social activities) are not homogeneus but instead differ from each other, depending on subjects' individual differences and on the diverse relationships and experiences among members of the family groups. These findings underline the relevance of a methodology that takes into account individual, dyadic and social variables among subjects. This complex of variables represents a potentially useful methodology for studies on the attachment-independence process in mother-infant interactions in rhesus monkeys and in many other species of monkeys.

/pdf/rejecting-behaviour-and-separation-initiatives-as-aspects-of-1g0nqktbzv.pdf

Rejecting Behaviour and Separation Initiatives as Aspects of the Mother-infant Independence Dynamics in Rhesus Monkeys

It can be affirmed that the Q-sorting procedure has not been applied until now to depict the individual attachment differences in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). In this research the Q-sort test procedure in which descriptive items (93 for AQS and 101 for SBQS) put in order ranging from Most Descriptive to Least Descriptive both for mothers-infants observed in two subsequent years (First Year and Second Year), was applied the way that Stony Brook University researchers Everett Waters and Kathleen Deane did for assessing individual difference relationships in children. In this study, the application of this new method to monkeys shows significant change between the First Year and the Second Year in some subjects both in AQS or SBQS. Some of infant groups' conditions (the presence of peers for play behaviour, aunts, older sisters, etc.) influenced the individual behaviour of the focus subjects (6 different composition groups kept in 6 different and not-communicating cages). In conclusion what is the advantage of using the Q-sort method in this research? Why have we not used an ordinary ethological observation method, as was done in many other studies on Attachment behaviour in rhesus monkeys? The main reason is that the Q-sorting can reveal complex details and nuances of behaviour that are impossible to obtain through ordinary ethological observation.

/pdf/aqs-sbqs-re-adapted-q-sort-procedure-to-study-infant-2z9wxhoo75.pdf

AQS/SBQS: Re-adapted Q-sort Procedure To Study Infant Differences In Rhesus Monkey Attachment Behaviour

In five-minute records in which they were rejected by their mothers, passive preventions of nipple access, 11- to 15-week-old group-living rhesus monkey infants (Macaca mulatta) initiated fewer playful conctacts with others relative to the other kinds of social contact they initiated, while their overall rates of initiating social contacts may not have been reduced. Whether acts of maternal rejection are costly and distressing to the infant may depend on the nature of the social companions available for it and until more is known of the context of such acts, hypothesis about weaning conflict will be difficult to test in detail.

M. J. A. Simpson

Papers

Maternal rejection and infant play in rhesus monkey infants