• Question: why are we compared to monkeys

    Asked by lesley to Adrian, Iroise, Joe, Rachel, Ria on 15 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Joe Bathelt

      Joe Bathelt answered on 15 Nov 2016:


      There are two reasons. First, scientists often try to break a complicated question down to make it possible to answer it. The behaviour of animals is often simpler and we, therefore, study them to learn something about something similar in humans. Second, it is easier to control the environment of a money in a laboratory. For example, a scientist could record what the monkey is doing day and night for every day of the week. This would not be possible with human participants, because they would want to go elsewhere and would (understandably) mind being recorded all the time.
      Monkeys and humans are relatively closely related in evolutionary terms. Their brains are also fairly similar. The things that we learn from the monkeys often translate to the human for those reasons.

    • Photo: Iroise Dumontheil

      Iroise Dumontheil answered on 16 Nov 2016:


      We are compared to monkeys but also all sorts of other animals. Our brains are so complex that sometimes researchers try to start with studying simpler brains (like slugs!) and then build up from there. Brain cells, neurons, are remarkably similar in different species so we can learn a lot this way. But some aspects of thinking (like the regulation of emotions and abstract thinking) are very difficult to study in other animals, including monkeys, because they are quite unique in humans.

Comments