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All Outputs (20)

A universal preference for animate agents in hominids (2024)
Journal Article
Brocard, S., Wilson, V. A., Berton, C., Zuberbühler, K., & Bickel, B. (2024). A universal preference for animate agents in hominids. iScience, 27(6), Article 109996. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.109996

When conversing, humans instantaneously predict meaning from fragmentary and ambiguous mspeech, long before utterance completion. They do this by integrating priors (initial assumptions about the world) with contextual evidence to rapidly decide on t... Read More about A universal preference for animate agents in hominids.

Does the primate face cue personality? (2023)
Journal Article
Wilson, V. A., & Masilkova, M. (2023). Does the primate face cue personality?. Personality Neuroscience, 6, Article e7. https://doi.org/10.1017/pen.2023.5

When looking at others, primates primarily focus on the face - detecting the face first and looking at it longer than other parts of the body. This is because primate faces, even without expression, convey trait information crucial for navigating soc... Read More about Does the primate face cue personality?.

The use of gaze to study cognition: limitations, solutions, and applications to animal welfare (2023)
Journal Article
Wilson, V. A., Bethell, E. J., & Nawroth, C. (2023). The use of gaze to study cognition: limitations, solutions, and applications to animal welfare. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, Article 1147278. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1147278

The study of gaze responses, typically using looking time paradigms, has become a popular approach to improving our understanding of cognitive processes in non-verbal individuals. Our interpretation of data derived from these paradigms, however, is c... Read More about The use of gaze to study cognition: limitations, solutions, and applications to animal welfare.

The evolutionary origins of syntax: Event cognition in nonhuman primates (2022)
Journal Article
Wilson, V. A., Zuberbühler, K., & Bickel, B. (2022). The evolutionary origins of syntax: Event cognition in nonhuman primates. Science Advances, 8(25), Article eabn8464. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abn8464

Languages tend to encode events from the perspective of agents, placing them first and in simpler forms than patients. This agent bias is mirrored by cognition: Agents are more quickly recognized than patients and generally attract more attention. Th... Read More about The evolutionary origins of syntax: Event cognition in nonhuman primates.

Testing the Relationship Between Looking Time and Choice Preference in Long-tailed Macaques (2021)
Journal Article
Wilson, V. A. D., Kade, C., & Fischer, J. (2021). Testing the Relationship Between Looking Time and Choice Preference in Long-tailed Macaques. Animal behavior and cognition, 8(3), 351-375. https://doi.org/10.26451/abc.08.03.03.2021

Visual bias in social cognition studies is often interpreted to indicate preference, yet it is difficult to elucidate whether this translates to social preference. Moreover, visual bias is often framed in terms of surprise or recognition. It is thus... Read More about Testing the Relationship Between Looking Time and Choice Preference in Long-tailed Macaques.

Early social rearing, the V1A arginine vasopressin receptor genotype, and autistic traits in chimpanzees (2021)
Journal Article
Weiss, A., Wilson, V. A., & Hopkins, W. D. (2021). Early social rearing, the V1A arginine vasopressin receptor genotype, and autistic traits in chimpanzees. Autism Research, 14(9), 1843-1853. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2550

Previous studies found associations between autism-related phenotypes and both rearing and V1A arginine vasopressin receptor (AVPR1A) genotypes. We tested whether these exposures as well as their interaction were associated with autism-related phenot... Read More about Early social rearing, the V1A arginine vasopressin receptor genotype, and autistic traits in chimpanzees.

Macaque Gaze Responses to the Primatar: A Virtual Macaque Head for Social Cognition Research (2020)
Journal Article
Wilson, V. A., Kade, C., Moeller, S., Treue, S., Kagan, I., & Fischer, J. (2020). Macaque Gaze Responses to the Primatar: A Virtual Macaque Head for Social Cognition Research. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, Article 1645. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01645

Following the expanding use and applications of virtual reality in everyday life, realistic virtual stimuli are of increasing interest in cognitive studies. They allow for control of features such as gaze, expression, appearance, and movement, which... Read More about Macaque Gaze Responses to the Primatar: A Virtual Macaque Head for Social Cognition Research.

Facial width-to-height ratio in chimpanzees: Links to age, sex and personality (2020)
Journal Article
Wilson, V., Weiss, A., Lefevre, C. E., Ochiai, T., Matsuzawa, T., Inoue-Murayama, M., Freeman, H., Herrelko, E. S., & Altschul, D. (2020). Facial width-to-height ratio in chimpanzees: Links to age, sex and personality. Evolution and Human Behavior, 41(3), 226-234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.03.001

Links between the human facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) and aggressive behaviours have been debated in recent years. The question of whether fWHR is a cue to dominance could benefit from the study of primate species that are closely related to hu... Read More about Facial width-to-height ratio in chimpanzees: Links to age, sex and personality.

An Exploration of the Relationships Among Facial Dimensions, Age, Sex, Dominance Status, and Personality in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta) (2019)
Journal Article
Altschul, D. M., Robinson, L. M., Coleman, K., Capitanio, J. P., & Wilson, V. A. (2019). An Exploration of the Relationships Among Facial Dimensions, Age, Sex, Dominance Status, and Personality in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta). International Journal of Primatology, 40(4-5), 532-552. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-019-00104-y

Aspects of personality in nonhuman primates have been linked to health, social relationships, and life history outcomes. In humans as well as nonhuman primates, facial morphology is associated with assertiveness, aggression, and measures of dominance... Read More about An Exploration of the Relationships Among Facial Dimensions, Age, Sex, Dominance Status, and Personality in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta).

Future directions for personality research: Contributing new insights to the understanding of animal behavior (2019)
Journal Article
Wilson, V., Guenther, A., Øverli, Ø., Seltmann, M. W., & Altschul, D. (2019). Future directions for personality research: Contributing new insights to the understanding of animal behavior. Animals, 9(5), Article 240. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9050240

As part of the European Conference on Behavioral Biology 2018, we organized a symposium entitled, “Animal personality: Providing new insights into behavior?” The aims of this symposium were to address current research in the personality field, spanni... Read More about Future directions for personality research: Contributing new insights to the understanding of animal behavior.

Hominid (2018)
Book Chapter
Wilson, V. (2018). Hominid. In J. Vonk, & T. Shackelford (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior (1-5). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1130-1

Hominids are the group of primates known as the great apes, which includes orangutans (Bornean, Pongo pygmaeus, and Sumatran, Pongo abelii), gorillas (Western gorilla, Gorilla gorilla, and Eastern gorilla, Gorilla beringei), chimpanzees (Pan troglody... Read More about Hominid.

A comparison of personality in the common and Bolivian squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus and Saimiri boliviensis) (2018)
Journal Article
Wilson, V. A., Inoue-Murayama, M., & Weiss, A. (2018). A comparison of personality in the common and Bolivian squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus and Saimiri boliviensis). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 132(1), 24-39. https://doi.org/10.1037/com0000093

Personality has been studied in all of the great apes, many Old World monkey species, but only a handful of New World monkey species. Because understanding the personalities of New World monkeys is crucial to understanding personality evolution in pr... Read More about A comparison of personality in the common and Bolivian squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus and Saimiri boliviensis).

Using anthropocentrism to the benefit of other species (2018)
Journal Article
Wilson, V. Using anthropocentrism to the benefit of other species. Animal Sentience, 3(23), https://doi.org/10.51291/2377-7478.1381

Chapman & Huffman (2018) argue that we should not consider humans as unique or superior to other animals when we have the chance to explore the diversity of the traits of other species. This is a valid and progressive point in our approach to researc... Read More about Using anthropocentrism to the benefit of other species.

Costs, benefits and mechanisms of animalassisted therapy: adopting a change in perspective (2018)
Journal Article
Wilson, V. (2018). Costs, benefits and mechanisms of animalassisted therapy: adopting a change in perspective. Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care, 17(4),

Animal-assisted therapy has progressed in recent years, helping a broad spectrum of people to tackle stress, loneliness and health problems, including those with life-long disabilities. For children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), animal-assiste... Read More about Costs, benefits and mechanisms of animalassisted therapy: adopting a change in perspective.

Chimpanzee Personality and the Arginine Vasopressin Receptor 1A Genotype (2016)
Journal Article
Wilson, V. A., Weiss, A., Humle, T., Morimura, N., Udono, T., Idani, G., Matsuzawa, T., Hirata, S., & Inoue-Murayama, M. (2017). Chimpanzee Personality and the Arginine Vasopressin Receptor 1A Genotype. Behavior Genetics, 47(2), 215-226. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-016-9822-2

Polymorphisms of the arginine vasopressin receptor 1a (AVPR1a) gene have been linked to various measures related to human social behavior, including sibling conflict and agreeableness. In chimpanzees, AVPR1a polymorphisms have been associated with tr... Read More about Chimpanzee Personality and the Arginine Vasopressin Receptor 1A Genotype.

Happiness is positive welfare in brown capuchins (Sapajus apella) (2016)
Journal Article
Robinson, L. M., Waran, N. K., Leach, M. C., Morton, F. B., Paukner, A., Lonsdorf, E., Handel, I., Wilson, V. A., Brosnan, S. F., & Weiss, A. (2016). Happiness is positive welfare in brown capuchins (Sapajus apella). Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 181, 145-151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2016.05.029

Questionnaires that allow people who are familiar with individual animals to rate the welfare of these animals are an underutilised tool. We designed a 12-item welfare questionnaire and tested its reliability and associations with subjective well-bei... Read More about Happiness is positive welfare in brown capuchins (Sapajus apella).

Using photographs to study animal social cognition and behaviour: Do capuchins' responses to photos reflect reality? (2016)
Journal Article
Morton, F. B., Brosnan, S. F., Prétôt, L., Buchanan-Smith, H. M., O'Sullivan, E., Stocker, M., D'Mello, D., & Wilson, V. A. (2016). Using photographs to study animal social cognition and behaviour: Do capuchins' responses to photos reflect reality?. Behavioural Processes, 124, 38-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2015.10.005

© 2015 Elsevier B.V. Behavioural responses to photos are often used to infer what animals understand about their social environment, but are rarely validated against the same stimuli in real life. If subjects' responses to photos do not reflect respo... Read More about Using photographs to study animal social cognition and behaviour: Do capuchins' responses to photos reflect reality?.

Facial width-to-height ratio relates to alpha status and assertive personality in capuchin monkeys (2014)
Journal Article
Lefevre, C. E., Wilson, V. A. D., Morton, F. B., Brosnan, S. F., Paukner, A., & Bates, T. C. (2014). Facial width-to-height ratio relates to alpha status and assertive personality in capuchin monkeys. PLoS ONE, 9(4), Article e93369. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0093369

Social dominance hierarchies play a pivotal role in shaping the behaviour of many species, and sex differences within these hierarchies often exist. To date, however, few physical markers of dominance have been identified. Such markers would be valua... Read More about Facial width-to-height ratio relates to alpha status and assertive personality in capuchin monkeys.

Personality and facial morphology: Links to assertiveness and neuroticism in capuchins (Sapajus [Cebus] apella) (2013)
Journal Article
Wilson, V., Lefevre, C. E., Morton, F. B., Brosnan, S. F., Paukner, A., & Bates, T. C. (2014). Personality and facial morphology: Links to assertiveness and neuroticism in capuchins (Sapajus [Cebus] apella). Personality and individual differences, 58, 89-94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.10.008

Personality has important links to health, social status, and life history outcomes (e.g. longevity and reproductive success). Human facial morphology appears to signal aspects of one's personality to others, raising questions about the evolutionary... Read More about Personality and facial morphology: Links to assertiveness and neuroticism in capuchins (Sapajus [Cebus] apella).