Chimpanzees at a research institute in Japan were tested on number tasks with different levels of difficulty. When humans watched, the chimps’ performance changed.
In the first task, the chimps had to touch numbers in order to get a reward. In the second task, they had to press numbers from smallest to largest. The hardest task required them to remember the location of hidden numbers.
Over six years, the chimps did these tasks with varying audience sizes. Surprisingly, they did better with more humans watching, especially on the hardest task.
The researchers were shocked by this finding. They suggest that the audience effect might have evolved in chimpanzees before humans. This effect could be related to the chimps’ personalities.
Further studies could explore how chimpanzees interact in natural social settings. Overall, this research shows how chimpanzees can be influenced by an audience, just like humans.
