Séminaire

Unravelling variation in primate decision-making under risk: comparative investigations on tufted capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.), children and adult humans (Homo sapiens)

Francesca De Petrillo ( IAST)

13 avril 2021, 12h45–13h45

Toulouse

Salle Zoom

Résumé

Risk is a ubiquitous component of human economic behavior, yet people can vary in their preferences for risk across populations, individuals, and different points in time. Within populations, individuals can also flexibly shift strategies across time, showing different preferences for risk in different contexts, or depending on their own internal states. As risk also characterizes many aspects of animal decision-making, comparative research can help evaluate different potential mechanisms that generate this variation, including the role of biological differences or maturational change versus cultural learning, as well as identify human-unique components of economic decision-making. In this talk, I will present a series of studies examining variation in primate risky choices within individuals according to internal states, (capuchins monkeys and children) and external contexts (human adults). Overall, these works showed that human and non-human choices are affected by their emotional states - like the feeling of regret - the specific currency of the reward at stake (food vs. money), and the format of choice stimuli (concrete 3D objects vs. 2D computer-based images). Yet, an adaptive response of feeling regret after bad outcomes emerges later in human development, possibly due to uniquely human cultural learning or experience.

Référence

Francesca De Petrillo ( IAST), « Unravelling variation in primate decision-making under risk: comparative investigations on tufted capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.), children and adult humans (Homo sapiens) », IAST Lunch Seminar, Toulouse : IAST, 13 avril 2021, 12h45–13h45, salle Zoom.