Scientists from the University of Glasgow and Aalto University studied the preferences of monkeys in captivity.
During the experiment, it was found that primates prefer to listen to music and watch videos about marine life.
Zoo biologists created a "mini-cinema" in the enclosure with three pale sakis — tunnels made of wood and plastic, inside which screens were placed. Infrared sensors were triggered by the movements of the primates, launching audio or video.
The monkeys quickly learned to use the device. The sakis activated sound stimuli twice as often as visual ones. This suggests that primates prefer listening to songs by the Arctic Monkeys rather than watching films from the "Planet of the Apes" franchise.
It was also found that monkeys prefer music over the sounds of rain and traffic noise. The most interesting for them were documentaries about marine life.
Scientists urge against making hasty conclusions that monkeys prefer music over movies. For more accurate assertions, more data needs to be collected, the zoologists note.
- The data we obtained will serve as the basis for further research. Our ultimate goal is to improve the living conditions of animals by understanding how they respond to computer systems, - say the authors of the study.
