One‐year change in cognitive flexibility and fine motor function in middle‐aged male and female marmosets ( Callithrix jacchus )
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19389064 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kathryn P Workman (Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences University of Massachusetts Amherst Massachusetts), Brianna Healey (Neuroscience and Behavior Graduate Program University of Massachusetts Amherst Massachusetts), Alyssa Carlotto (Neuroscience and Behavior Graduate Program University of Massachusetts Amherst Massachusetts), Agnès Lacreuse (0000-0003-2890-9649, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences University of Massachusetts Amherst Massachusetts, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 81 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | e22924-e22924 |
| Publication date | 2019-02-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Primatology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0275-2565 • E-ISSN: 1098-2345 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/ajp.22924 |
| PMID | 30281810 |
| OpenAlex | W2895564148 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 78 |
The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) is uniquely suited for longitudinal studies of cognitive aging, due to a relatively short lifespan, sophisticated cognitive abilities, and patterns of brain aging that resemble those of humans. We examined cognitive function and fine motor skills in male and female marmosets (mean age ∼5 at study entry) followed longitudinally for 2 years. Each year, monkeys were tested on a reversal learning task with three pairs of stimuli (n = 18, 9 females) and a fine motor task requiring them to grasp small rewards from two staircases (Hill and Valley test, n = 12, 6 females). There was little evidence for a decline in cognitive flexibility between the two time points, in part because of practice effects. However, independent of year of testing, females took longer than males to reach criterion in the reversals, indicating impaired cognitive flexibility. Motivation was unlikely to contribute to this effect, as males refused a greater percentage of trials than females in the reversals. With regards to motor function, females were significantly faster than males in the Hill and Valley task. From Year 1 to Year 2, a slight slowing of motor function was observed in both sexes, but accuracy decreased significantly in males only. This study (1) demonstrates that marmosets exhibit sex differences in cognitive flexibility and fine motor function that resemble those described in humans; (2) that changes in fine motor function can already be detected at middle-age; and (3) that males may experience greater age-related changes in fine motor skills than females. Additional data points will determine whether these sex and age differences persist over time
Callithrix · Cognition · Cognitive flexibility · Developmental psychology · Primate · Mathematics · Memory and Neural Mechanisms · Neural dynamics and brain function · Neuroscience · Primate Behavior and Ecology · Psychology
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| Citations per year | 0.71 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2019 - 2025 (7) |
| Highly cited | No |