Primate Cognition

At the German Primate Center, we study a group of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis). The monkeys live in a social group of ca. 28 individuals (ranging from 0 to 22 years) and have access to indoor and outdoor enclosures with various enrichment opportunities. Our behavioural experiments take place in their familiar indoor room and participation is entirely voluntary.

In the monkey park "La Forêt de Singes" in Rocamadour, France, we study a population of 130 free-ranging Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus). We combine behavioural observations and field experiments.

Currently, we conduct research on topics of social cognition, cognition and ageing, and decision making under uncertainty:

How do different primate species compare themselves to others?

How do they evaluate other’s abilities to perform certain tasks
and how does this affect their behaviour and decision-making?

How does ageing affect performance in cognitive tasks and social selectivity?

How do monkeys deal with statistical information and reasoning under uncertainty?