By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

For a bit of a break from this weekend’s topics on troublesome issues we bring you a new dawn in primate research. It is true, monkeys like horror movies.

Researchers in Kyoto, Japan were interested in if chimpanzees and their cousins bonobos could display the trait of long term memory through anticipating and predicting outcomes of two similar situations. To do this, the primates were placed watching a movie with an eye tracking device to gauge their interests and whether they would predict what would happen next. Just like in any human horror movie, when the teenage actor looks to the left, we anticipate the zombie will attack from the right.

Apparently when these primates are exposed to horror pictures, they forget eating treats and snacks and focus with great interest on the violence. And, unlike humans, they do not experience the need to hide their eyes and look away.

Two versions of each film were shown a day apart.

In the first version, a human convincingly depicting King Kong bursts through a door and attacks a man–robbing him of a prized banana. For the second showing, the monkey audience anticipates which door his hero will emerge, as shown by the red eye tracking dots.

The next Silverback Screen film depicts an otherwise friendly human taunting a caged King Kong. Unexpectedly the filthy ape gets loose and puts his hands on the human. But, alas, King Kong once again gets the beat down when the human takes a hammer to him. The second version shows the hammer has moved positions but the bonobo watching anticipates the weapon to be used. Unfortunately, it is always the same outcome, the primate loses in the end. It is difficult unfortunately for movie studios it seems to get past that 1970’s frame of mindset, continuing to produce apexploitation movies.

Research aside, for those who have went through life frustrated in always wondering what type of movie primates enjoy without the hope of ever knowing, we provide the knowledge and relief you deserve.

By Darren Smith

Source: Daily Mail

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