Leiden University Scholarly Publications

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Berlo, E. van (2022)

Emotions through the eyes of our closest living relatives: exploring attentional and behavioral mechanisms

Doctoral Thesis
What are the evolutionary roots of emotions? To answer this cardinal question, I study emotions in animals that are evolutionarily close to us: the great apes. In this dissertation, I investigated how bonobos, orangutans, and humans perceive emotions by studying three markers of emotion perception: attention, spontaneous mimicry, and implicit associations. Using touchscreen tasks and eye-tracking, I found that bonobos and humans share attentional mechanisms for perceiving their social surroundings. In both species, attention was immediately directed to emotional signals of unfamiliar others (in bonobos) or familiar others (in humans). Bonobos and humans also looked longer at certain emotionally-laden scenes than emotionally-neutral scenes. Subsequently, I studied orangutans: the only apes leading a semi-solitary existence. I found that orangutans show spontaneous mimicry in the form of contagious yawning and self-scratching, contradicting the idea that mimicry only occurs in...Show moreWhat are the evolutionary roots of emotions? To answer this cardinal question, I study emotions in animals that are evolutionarily close to us: the great apes. In this dissertation, I investigated how bonobos, orangutans, and humans perceive emotions by studying three markers of emotion perception: attention, spontaneous mimicry, and implicit associations. Using touchscreen tasks and eye-tracking, I found that bonobos and humans share attentional mechanisms for perceiving their social surroundings. In both species, attention was immediately directed to emotional signals of unfamiliar others (in bonobos) or familiar others (in humans). Bonobos and humans also looked longer at certain emotionally-laden scenes than emotionally-neutral scenes. Subsequently, I studied orangutans: the only apes leading a semi-solitary existence. I found that orangutans show spontaneous mimicry in the form of contagious yawning and self-scratching, contradicting the idea that mimicry only occurs in highly social species. Finally, I created and validated a pictorial version of the implicit association test: a task that can potentially help us uncover whether apes have implicit associations with emotions. The results in this dissertation indicate a common evolutionary origin for attentional mechanisms and mimicry in great apes, including humans, and highlight the importance of considering species-specific characteristics that drive emotion perception.
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Comparative psychology
Emotions
Affect
Bonobos
Orangutans
Great apes
Attention
Spontaneous mimicry
Implicit associations
Last common ancestor
All authors
Berlo, E. van
Supervisor
Kret, M.E.
Co-supervisor
Kim, Y.
Committee
Nieuwenhuis, S.T.; Janmaat, K.R.L.; Sterck, E.H.M.; Waal, F.B.M. de; Urai, A.E.; Riebel, K.
Qualification
Doctor (dr.)
Awarding Institution
Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Leiden University
Date
2022-05-19
ISBN (print)
9789090359847

Funding

Sponsorship
The research included in this dissertation was supported by grants from Stichting Elise Mathilde Fonds (Leiden University Fund, awarded to Mariska E. Kret and Evy van Berlo) and the Dr. J. L. Dobberke Stichting voor Vergelijkende Psychologie (Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, awarded to Evy van Berlo)