Matrilineal social rank is associated with patterns of attention to social scenes in male infant rhesus macaques
Abstract
Visual attention to others in our immediate environments serves as an adaptive mechanism for early learning across primate species. This study leverages longitudinal eye-tracking data from male infant rhesus macaques collected at up to 14 timepoints from birth to six months to chart visual attention patterns to social videos of unknown conspecifics or mother-infant dyads in a group setting. The distribution of oculomotor movements that index the extent of infant attention to the video stimuli – fixations, saccades, and inattention, i.e., data lost to offscreen looks or movement – stayed constant during this developmental period. Attention to different body areas – mouth, head and body - showed subtle and progressive changes from birth to six months, except for attention to the eyes of conspecifics, which showed two distinct periods of significant increase. The matrilineal social rank of the infant was also investigated as a social factor related to patterns of attention. Rank was significantly associated with the percent of time infants spent making saccades, such that low-ranking infants spent more viewing time making saccades than their high-ranking peers. This association was established by five weeks of age. Collectively, these results provide insight into processes of social attention related to social status in rhesus macaques during infancy.
Related
- Social and behavioral risk factors are associated with age-related differences in sustained attention: A cross-sectional GradCPT analysis of the All of Us dataset
- Social Dynamics Are Associated with Plant-Based Dietary Consumption Patterns Among Rural Adults in the U.S.
- Distinct social and psychological risk patterns define latent classes associated with smoking susceptibility in never-smoking adolescents and young adults
- Oromucosal administration of oxytocin and its receptor antagonist atosiban respectively increase and decrease preferential attention to dynamic social stimuli in men
- Co-development, initial evaluation and implementation of a digital health intervention (SmartADHD) for young people (aged 16-30) with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, including optimisation for sustainable delivery via health and social care settings: protocol for a mixed-methods study.
BibTeX
@article{ford2026matrilineal,
title = {{Matrilineal social rank is associated with patterns of attention to social scenes in male infant rhesus macaques}},
author = {Aiden Ford and Natalie R. Pilgeram and Arick Wang and Maria C. Alvarado and Trina Jonesteller and Jabari Wesson and Kelly Bailey and Shaina Ginsberg and Prasanna Karur and M. Mar Sanchez and Jocelyne Bachevalier},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s41598-026-61421-w},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-61421-w},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Matrilineal social rank is associated with patterns of attention to social scenes in male infant rhesus macaques
AU - Aiden Ford
AU - Natalie R. Pilgeram
AU - Arick Wang
AU - Maria C. Alvarado
AU - Trina Jonesteller
AU - Jabari Wesson
AU - Kelly Bailey
AU - Shaina Ginsberg
AU - Prasanna Karur
AU - M. Mar Sanchez
AU - Jocelyne Bachevalier
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
JO - Scientific Reports
DO - 10.1038/s41598-026-61421-w
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-61421-w
AB - Visual attention to others in our immediate environments serves as an adaptive mechanism for early learning across primate species. This study leverages longitudinal eye-tracking data from male infant rhesus macaques collected at up to 14 timepoints from birth to six months to chart visual attention patterns to social videos of unknown conspecifics or mother-infant dyads in a group setting. The distribution of oculomotor movements that index the extent of infant attention to the video stimuli – fixations, saccades, and inattention, i.e., data lost to offscreen looks or movement – stayed constant during this developmental period. Attention to different body areas – mouth, head and body - showed subtle and progressive changes from birth to six months, except for attention to the eyes of conspecifics, which showed two distinct periods of significant increase. The matrilineal social rank of the infant was also investigated as a social factor related to patterns of attention. Rank was significantly associated with the percent of time infants spent making saccades, such that low-ranking infants spent more viewing time making saccades than their high-ranking peers. This association was established by five weeks of age. Collectively, these results provide insight into processes of social attention related to social status in rhesus macaques during infancy.
SN - 2045-2322
ER -