Maternal warmth and early intimate interactions between mother and infant in wild tufted capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp)

• Grant number: 12/20107-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: January 01, 2013
• End date: December 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Comparative Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Patrícia Izar Mauro
• Grantee: Michele Pereira Verderane
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psicologia (IP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Maternal style in nonhuman primates is traditionally studied and understood in terms of maternal protection and rejection. Recently, the existence of the dimension of maternal warmth, characterized by intimate interactions between mother-infant, has been acknowledged. In humans, this dimension of care relates to the maternal style and the pattern of mother-baby attachment and appears to be quite variable due to sociocultural characteristics which the dyad belongs to. Variations in style of maternal protection and rejection are also observed in nonhuman primates, but little is known about the warmth component of care, and even less about the variables that affect it. Thus, this research aims to investigate the repertoire of initial intimate interactions between mothers and infants of tufted capuchin monkeys (genus Sapajus) in the wild and verify if these interactions vary along different populations living under distinct social and ecological conditions. Capuchin monkeys present great behavioral flexibility due to environmental variability, which we predict to be the result of distinct ontogenetic trajectories, modulated by specific patterns of mother-infant attachment and maternal styles resulting from different social and ecological pressures. This study may provide evidence about human behavioral and psychological adaptations, highlighting homologies in the pattern of maternal warmth and mother-baby attachment in humans and primates, in addition to expanding the knowledge about species of Neotropical primates.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

VERDERANE, MICHELE PEREIRA; AGUIAR, RODRIGO MENDES; IZAR, PATRICIA. Face-to-face interactions between mothers and female infants in wild bearded capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus). DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, v. 62, n. 7, p. 941-949, NOV 2020. (12/20107-1, 14/13237-1)

SUSCKE, PRISCILA; VERDERANE, MICHELE; DE OLIVEIRA, ROBSON SANTOS; DELVAL, IRENE; FERNANDEZ-BOLANOS, MARCELO; IZAR, PATRICIA. Predatory threat of harpy eagles for yellow-breasted capuchin monkeys in the Atlantic Forest. PRIMATES, v. 58, n. 1, p. 141-147, JAN 2017. (10/51252-1, 12/20107-1)

PRESOTTO, ANDREA; REMILLARD, CAREN; SPAGNOLETTI, NOEMI; SALMI, ROBERTA; VERDERANE, MICHELE; STAFFORD, KATHLEEN; DOS SANTOS, RICARDO RODRIGUES; MADDEN, MARGUERITE; FRAGASZY, DOROTHY; VISALBERGHI, ELISABETTA; et al. Rare Bearded Capuchin (Sapajus libidinosus) Tool-Use Culture is Threatened by Land use Changes in Northeastern Brazil. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, v. 41, n. 4, JUL 2020. (12/20107-1, 11/21032-2)