Thermal imaging as a window into primate affective states: emotional contagion and empathetic response in Barbary macaques

• Applicant: Professorin Julia Ostner, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Sensory and Behavioural Biology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 561653129

Major gaps exist in the study of animal emotions as scientific progress has been hampered by the inability of animals, unlike humans, to self-report their subjective experiences and by the invasiveness of tools used to measure physiological correlates of emotions. Consequently, most research on animal emotions has been conducted in controlled experimental setups that lack ecological validity and use artificial, often only aversive, stimuli. Here, we capitalize on the recent development of infrared thermography as a non-invasive, contact-free method for quantifying arousal in free-ranging animals, allowing us to test emotional responses to naturally occurring social interactions and to begin to fill gaps in the study of animal emotion and empathetic behavior. In the proposed project on a well-habituated population of Barbary macaques, we will combine infrared thermography with detailed behavioral data on a large number of adult individuals from two social groups. We will (i) assess individuals’ own responses when engaging in naturally occurring social situations of varying quality (cooperative, competitive) and partner attributes (bond strength, dominance rank difference), together with (ii) the simultaneous recording of the arousal response of an individual observing these interactions testing emotional contagion between individuals, and (iii) test the conditions that favor consolatory behavior when observing others in distress. Collectively, this study will address the physiological sharing of autonomic response in non-human animals and contribute to our understanding of the emotional life of animals, in particular emotional contagion and consolation as crucial building blocks of empathy, a capacity that humans have advanced to empathetic perspective-taking giving rise to the extraordinarily high levels of cooperation observed in human societies.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigators: Professorin Dr. Anne Schacht; Privatdozent Dr. Oliver Schülke, Ph.D.