Relative
response to digital tablet devices and painting
as sensory enrichment in captive
chimpanzees
Grunauer PP, Walguarnery JW.
University of Hawaii, Manoa,
Honolulu, Hawaii
Abstract
Digital devices, including tablet computers
and other touchscreens, can potentially serve as
flexible and convenient means for providing
behavioral enrichment activities to captive
primates. Despite increased interest in
incorporating technology into enrichment
programs, no direct quantitative comparison has
previously been made between the effectiveness
of typical tactile enrichment activities and
enrichment activities on digital devices.
One way in which these activities differ is
in the degree of controllability afforded the
animals in interacting with the enrichment
objects, since digital devices will be limiting
to varying degrees based on the particulars of
software and the interface format. This study
compared the effects of painting with brush on
paper to those of a painting application on a
digital tablet device (iPad™) in eight
group-living chimpanzees at the Honolulu Zoo.
Observations were analyzed across baseline,
enrichment, and post-enrichment periods to
measure significant differences in the reduction
of displacement and stereotypic behaviors. The
authors found that the digital tablet device
running an application that permits production
of semi-automated visualizations, was as
effective as painting with brush on paper in
reducing some stereotypic and displacement
behaviors, including yawning and self-picking.
However, the digital tablet was not as effective
in reducing other displacement behaviors, nor
was it as effective in retaining the
chimpanzee's attention.
These results confirm a useful role for
digital devices in enrichment programs but
suggest a need to assess individual device
applications in their capacity to promote
greater controllability and sensory breadth of
the enrichment experience.
Résumé
Les outils numériques, y compris les
tablettes et autres écrans tactiles,
peuvent potentiellement servir de moyens utiles
et pratiques pour fournir des activités
enrichissantes aux primates captifs.
Malgré l'intérêt accru
pour l'intégration de technologies
contemporaines dans les programmes
d'activités, aucune comparaison
quantitative directe n'a été faite
auparavant entre l'efficacité des
activités manuelles traditionnelles et
les activités avec des outils
numériques.
Ces activités diffèrent
notamment par la capacité des animaux
à manipuler ces outils pour interagir
avec eux, à la compréhension du
logiciel et au format de l'interface.
Cette étude a comparé les
effets de peindre au pinceau sur du papier
à ceux d'une application de peinture sur
une tablette numérique (iPad ™) chez
huit chimpanzés vivant en groupe au zoo
d'Honolulu.
Les observations ont été
analysées par comparaisons entre des
périodes de référence, des
périodes d'enrichissement et de
post-enrichissement afin de mesurer les
différences significatives dans la
diminution des « displacement's activities
» (bâiller) et les comportements
stéréotypés.
Les auteurs ont constaté que la
production de coloriages
(semi-automatisés) avec l'IPAD
était aussi efficace que la peinture au
pinceau sur papier pour réduire certains
comportements stéréotypés
et les activités dérivatives, y
compris le bâillement et
l'épouillage.
Cependant, la tablette n'a pas
été aussi efficace pour
réduire les autres comportements et ni
pour retenir l'attention du chimpanzé.
Ces résultats confirment un rôle
utile pour les appareils numériques dans
les programmes d'enrichissement, mais
suggèrent qu'il est nécessaire
d'évaluer les applications individuelles
des appareils dans leur capacité à
promouvoir une plus grande
contrôlabilité et une plus grande
stimulation sensorielle de l'expérience
d'enrichissement.
DISCUSSION
Both the traditional painting and the
digital painting application were found, under
the conditions in this case study, to reduce the
frequency of some displacement and stereotypic
behaviors. Both were effective in decreasing
inactivity. However, traditional painting was
significantly more effective in two regards. Not
only was it more effective in decreasing
vigilance, but the chimpanzees were
significantly more attentive to this particular
activity,twoeffects that might be expected to be
correlated. It has been argued that the
controlled conditions in which captive primates
live can contribute to the development of
aberrant behavioral patterns (Buchanan-Smith,
1997;Hosey, 2005;Kurtycz et al., 2014;
Markowitz, 1978; Morgan & Tromborg, 2007).
Enrichment that provides opportunities to make
choices can offer some sovereignty to captive
animals, thereby promoting overall well-being
(Kurtycz et al., 2014; Morgan & Tromborg,
2007; Sambrook & Buchanan-Smith, 1997;
Videan et al., 2005). As administered in this
study, traditional painting offered more control
and more choice opportunities than the digital
form of the interaction. For example, the
chimpanzees were able to freely manipulate the
brush and choose how to interact with both the
paintbrush and the paint (e.g., paint withmouth
or hand, consume paint, dismantle the
paintbrush, etc.), whereas interaction with the
digital tablet was controlled solely by their
fingers.
Although both painting and digital tablet
enrichments were effective in reducing
self-picking and yawning, an unexpected result
was that yawning increased during the post-paint
enrichment condition. A possible explanation for
the high frequency of yawning during the
post-paint enrichment observations is that
removal of a desired enrichment imposed
short-term stress on the animals. Washburn and
Rumbaugh (1992) and Novak, Kinsey, Jorgensen and
Hazen (1998) both found that stereotypic
behaviors in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)
increased when access to the presented tasks was
removed, suggesting the positive impact of
having the tasks available (Hopper, Shender,
& Ross, 2016). Importantly, yawning occurs
in more than one context and can be associated
with a change in activity levels in addition to
increased arousal (Vick & Paukner,
2010).
With advances in technologies like
touchscreen tablets and joystick controlled
computers games the possibilities of
environmental manipulation by captive primates
through virtual space are expanding (Baker et
al., 2001; Kim-McCormack et al., 2016; Perdue et
al., 2012; Platt & Novak, 1997). Our results
confirm a useful role for both traditional
enrichment and digital devices in enrichment
programs but suggest a need to further assess
the factors that render each activity as a
positive and engaging experience for captive
primates. This case study should motivate
further consideration of the full sensory
experience of digital enrichment and be followed
by experimental study to parse the relative
importance of individual sensory
components.
CONCLUSION
1. There were significant differences in
chimpanzee displacement and stereotypic
behaviors across baseline, enrichment, and
postenrichment conditions for two enrichment
activities, painting and using a painting
application on a digital tablet device.
2. Both painting and the painting
application on a digital tablet were found to be
effective as enrichment activities to decrease a
portion of the tested behaviors.
3. Traditional painting was significantly
more effective than the digital tablet in
decreasing vigilance, and overall, the
chimpanzees were significantly more attentive to
the traditional painting enrichment.
4. Digital devices can be convenient and
flexible means of providing enrichment, but
consideration should be given to sensory
characteristics of the interface and degree of
controllability.
