%0 Journal Article %A Donnier, S. %A Kovacs, G. %A Oña, L. S. %A Bräuer, Juliane %A Amici, Federica %+ Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Society Research Group Primate Behavioural Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society Department of Human Behavior Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society %T Experience has a limited effect on humans’ ability to predict the outcome of social interactions in children, dogs and macaques : %G eng %U https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0007-82BC-2 %R 10.1038/s41598-020-78275-5 %7 2020-12-04 %D 2020 %8 04.12.2020 %* Review method: peer-reviewed %X The ability to predict others’ behaviour represents a crucial mechanism which allows individuals to
react faster and more appropriately. To date, several studies have investigated humans’ ability to
predict conspecifcs’ behaviour, but little is known on our ability to predict behaviour in other species.
Here, we aimed to test humans’ ability to predict social behaviour in dogs, macaques and humans,
and assess the role played by experience and evolution on the emergence of this ability. For this
purpose, we presented participants with short videoclips of real-life social interactions in dog, child
and macaque dyads, and then asked them to predict the outcome of the observed interactions (i.e.
aggressive, neutral or playful). Participants were selected according to their previous species-specifc
experience with dogs, children and non-human primates. Our results showed a limited efect of
experience on the ability to predict the outcome of social interactions, which was mainly restricted to
macaques. Moreover, we found no support to the co-domestication hypothesis, in that participants
were not especially skilled at predicting dog behaviour. Finally, aggressive outcomes in dogs were
predicted signifcantly worse than playful or neutral ones. Based on our fndings, we suggest possible
lines for future research, like the inclusion of other primate species and the assessment of cultural
factors on the ability to predict behaviour across species. %K Animal behaviour; Coevolution %J Scientific Reports %V 10 %] 21240 %I Nature