Study Shows Monkeys Like Watching TV

According to a Japanese study, monkeys are not immune to the siren call of the idiot box. It seems rhesus monkeys enjoy watching videos of circus animals. From the article: "The study found that when the monkey was witnessing the acrobatic performances of circus animals on a television screen, the frontal lobe area of its brain became vigorously active. The activity in such an area was significant in reflecting the monkey's pleasure, as the human equivalent is a neurological area associated with triggering delight in a baby when it sees the smile of its mother."

Re:

[TrisexualPuppy]

Strange...I thought the Monkees not only knew how to watch television but actually had their own television program. Shows what I know.

Really?

[The MAZZTer]

Huh, I didn't know monkeys could type so well.

Re:

[$RANDOMLUSER]

They have this draft of Hamlet they want to talk about...

And right now

[dread]

Hundreds of millions of monkeys are watching other monkeys chasing a ball on TV. And deriving pleasure from it presumably.

Re:

[nigelo]

And deriving pleasure from it presumably.

Whatever toots your horn...

And in other news...

[cayenne8]

...top US TV shows are:

American Idol

Dancing with the Stars

[name your reality show here]

Looks like we're all monkeys here....but sadly, it appears the 'furrier' of the tv watching monkeys at least watch something entertaining.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Speak for yourself. :P
I dont watch trashy reality tv series.

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[Joce640k]

In our local zoo the chimps have a TV with Teletubbies on it....seriously.

Re:And right now

[lgw]

Surely the monkey demographic explains the success of Reality TV. Perhaps it seems like science fiction to its biggest audience?

Re:And right now

[GooberToo]

That's not surprisingly in the least since Chimps have been shown to like action movies and even porn. Chimps can become physically agitated when watching action movies or even scary movies. They seemingly even understand suspense, which seems to validate a higher level of intelligence. Like humans, chimps react to stimuli such as anger, violence, kindness, and sexuality. In each case, they have shown a propensity for enjoying the content of what is they watch; just as humans do.

anger, violence, kindness, and sexuality

[Joce640k]

I wonder if they picked up the underlying homoerotic messages in Teletubbies?

Re:

[stupid_is]

The gorilla at Longleat Safari Park has a big plasma/LCD screen with satellite and has to be actively discouraged from using it too much - he has the controller to use, too, I seem to recall.

Can't remember what we were told was his favourite show, though

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[Dunbal]

You forgot the vuvuzelas.... no monkey would go to a ball chasing event without one.

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[lsmo]

The Men who stare at...

Now try Monkey Pron...

[kimgkimg]

Using the circus videos as a control, now give them a channel changer and put pron on the other channel...

Re:

[tonywong]

While there's a lot of humour to be found in this article, there can be some benefit as well. While I couldn't help but laugh when I read the article, producing videos and having them broadcast to zoo animals (not debating the ethics of keeping zoo animals, except that they are there) may help stimulate them (for short periods) even though they are in relatively cramped quarters.

Well duh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you seen what's on TV these days?

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[John Hasler]

> Have you seen what's on TV these days?

No, but from the reports it appears that it's what has always been there.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Your attempt at humor needs work. A lot of work.

Duh

[elrous0]

I bet they'll like Michael Bay movies too.

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[$RANDOMLUSER]

I bet they'll like Michael Bay movies too.

Actually, they think they're kind of douchey and stupid. But all the explosions are cool.

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[insertwackynamehere]

Conveniently, Doom is in the film as well so we can also test violent video games!

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[geekoid]

A) To find and parallels between the physiological make-up of monkeys and humans.
B) To better understand Monkey behavior.

Not everything studied needs an immediate reason. sometimes the knowledge is it's own reward, and very often other people come along look at that data and then find a practicable use for it. Much of what Einstein did was worthless at the time. His work on the concepts that you could stimulate electromagnetic emission. It wasn't until much later that the LASER was actually built.

Until stud

Re:

[LeadSongDog]

Einstein's Nobel was for his work on the photoelectric effect. As in "solar cells". That whole relativity thing was kind of interesting though, and it did get us to fission power. So one way or the other your monkeys can actually turn their plasma TV sets on to watch themselves without burning down their jungle.

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[gerddie]

To whoever modded this Offtopic: wooooossssssh.

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[enderjsv]

I didn't mod this offtopic, but you're right with the whole "wooooooossssssh" thing. What's he trying to say?

Re:

[gerddie]

I think AC is a monkey who tries to express that he prefers posting on /. over watching TV.

Re:

[inamorty]

It's from Finnegans Wake.

Extend the research?

[DriedClexler]

Knowing our similarities to other primate species, I think they should direct and film some "TV drama" type performance of monkeys -- basically, a TV show that uses monkeys doing the kinds of social interaction monkeys do. Then, see if the monkeys are just as interested in watching other monkeys handle situations, as we are in watching humans.

Also, see if they're able to distinguish TV from reality, and if they start feeling strongly about the characters.

Of course, it could be difficult to get the monkey "actors" to cooperate.

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[nizo]

Of course, it could be difficult to get the monkey "actors" to cooperate.

Cattle prods should work, at least until the Monkey Actor's Guild comes into existence.

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[hitmark]

peta?

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[RealErmine]

Here you go. Just like this [youtube.com].

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[demigod]

Then, see if the monkeys are just as interested in watching other monkeys handle situations, as we are in watching humans...

So you want to show them re-runs of Lancelot Link Secrent Chimp [wikipedia.org]? Seems a little like cruelty to animals.

off my lawn, etc

[Eil]

According to a Japanese study, monkeys are not immune to the siren call of the idiot box

That's "siren song," you illiterate clod.

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[DarkTempes]

And what does a siren's song do, hmm?

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[Nugoo]

Oh, he probably just plays Magic. [wizards.com]

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[stimpleton]

Interesting intepretation, as "siren song" suggests a quite lull towards the "idiot Box". Whereas, when I read "siren call" I envisaged a clambering to arms(in front of the idiot box). I lived in a rural area and was a volunteer firefighter. So the station siren meant the later for those on call..

If an infinite number of monkeys

[macbeth66]

film everything they see, will one of them eventually create "Planet of the Apes"?

Just asking...

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[Moraelin]

If an infinite number of monkeys film everything they see, will one of them eventually create "Planet of the Apes"?

Nope, but give a couple dozen monkeys a few weeks and you'll get a pretty good equivalent of an Uwe Boll movie ;)

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[RevWaldo]

Well, since they're monkeys, probably something like this instead

Lancelot Link - Secret Chimp! [youtube.com]

.

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[Samah]

film everything they see, will one of them eventually create "Planet of the Apes"?

I'd have thought something more along the lines of "Planet of the Humans". :)

Obvious...

[Amphetam1ne]

How else would you account for the success of reality TV shows?

Shall we expand on this a bit?

[Rogerborg]

Strap a monkey to a board, stick some electrodes in its brain, then measure how happy it is. Show it some moving images, which distract it from the fact that it's strapped to a board with electrodes stuck in its brain. It gets less unhappy. NOBEL PRIZE!

Coming up on the Monkey Television Network

[CaptDeuce]

• Demolition derby
• Pong
• Men's tennis
• Women's tennis (monkey focus groups indicate that male monkeys maintain a narrower focus)
• Mythbusters
• Baywatch (increased focus of male monkeys also noted)

In followup studies, human males show almost identical focus intensities. Unexpectedly, focus was most highly concentrated for episodes of Mythbusters -- even when Kari Byron was on hiatus.

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[Hatta]

There was a short lived TV show on TBS featuring chimps running a TV network. It was appropriately named The Chimp Channel [wikipedia.org] and was actually pretty good if you like that kind of thing.

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[Red Flayer]

Image you were locked in a cage. Now image that your wife is a hairy beast, your children don't listen to a word you say, and your best friend is fond of masturbating in public and flinging his own waste at strangers. What else are you going to do with your time?

Oh, I dunno. I'd probably pick some nits from my wife's fur, bare my teeth at the kids some, maybe masturbate, and then fling some poo (not necessarily in that order).

Watching TV is way, way down on my list -- at approximately the same level as sw

what's next

[pastafazou]

a study that shows monkeys are easily addicted to caffeine and nicotine? Or alcohol gets monkeys drunk?

Re:Barrack Obama

[cayenne8]

"We already knew this due to the behavior of the former US President, George W Bush."

Yep, and this behavior is being displayed in droves once again by current US President Barrack H Obama.

Re:

[cayenne8]

" Do you even know what a drove is?"

I believe it do...I was using it as commonly used as meaning "in large numbers", "seeing many examples of like behaviors".

From the Free Dictionary I found online:

drove 2 (drv)

n.

1. A flock or herd being driven in a body.

2.

a. A large mass of people moving or acting as a body.

b. A large body of like things. See Synonyms at flock1.

3.

a. A stonemason's broad-edged chisel used for rough hewing.

b. A stone surface dressed with such a chisel.

I guess according t

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[Reziac]

Gee, that's an awful wordy way to put it. You could have just said "Lemmings". ;)

But even the monkeys...

[N0Man74]

If we let them watch Uwe Boll movies on their TVs, I bet even the Monkeys will agree that they suck.

Alternate description:

[Desiderius]

Study Shows Scientists Like Watching Monkeys Watching TV

Sensory deprivation

[snooz_crash]

So take an animal, sequestered for experimentation, and give it a modicum of stimuli and see if it likes it? I tell you what, release the monkey, put a TV into the wild and see if free monkeys will stop and watch.

...and take the dang headphones off.

Roger Waters knew all along...

[altek]

Amused to Death: http://jacket.subtonic.jp/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/amused-to-death.jpg [subtonic.jp]

And the score is ...

[Dumnezeu]

Darwin 1 - God 0

even monkeys

[w00tsauce]

don't want to watch uwe boll

We don't like that word

[jprupp]

Please don't call us monkeys, we're chimpanzees. It's the gorillas who will destroy the world.

High Ratings...

[tazer]

Well at least that finally explains the high ratings on some shows (ie. American Idol). :-)

Re:

[tazer]

Ooops...My monkey posted that comment before reading the same comment above. Bad monkey! Bad monkey!

This monkey's gone to Fox

[vorlich]

Were the monkeys given the remote control and what did they think of the SGU season finale?

Wrong

[caranha]

The linked article does not actually refers to the Scientific article (why not?), so I went and did some digging.

http://frontiersin.org/neuroscience/behavioralneuroscience/paper/10.3389/fnbeh.2010.00031/ [frontiersin.org]

Nothing like "monkeys like to watch TV". The experiment only measure the activity of the monkey's brain when it is watching the movie, but not when it is NOT watching the movie or when it is watching something else. Actually the paper is more about this new brain wave sensor that they are developing than abo

Internet..

[Wescotte]

I have a feeling this video [youtube.com] proves monkeys are ready to use the internet.

Re:

[JustABlitheringIdiot]

I have a feeling this video [youtube.com] proves monkeys are ready to use the internet.

Well at least they are ready for Chat Roulette.

and the male monkeys

[nopainogain]

really enjoy video footage of other male monkeys committing dumb crimes, flipping their cars, and falling off of kegs.

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[Onymous Coward]

Did you know that attacking other social groups is usually a product of low self-esteem?

If at some point you develop a sense of valuing yourself, you retain your critical knowledge of other races and cultures but stop needing to attack them.

Re:

[Reziac]

Interestingly, these notions about "self esteem" had never been studied; they'd just been *assumed*, based on the notion that everyone likes to feel good about themselves. Recently some psych researchers took a notion to rectify this sad lack of actual documentation, and...

Contrary to common assumption, they discovered that the highest self-esteem was found in career criminals, who essentially believe they are better than everyone else, and therefore they believe they can do no wrong. (IOW, people who make

Re:

[Onymous Coward]

Intriguing. Thank you for the information, I'll see if I can dig up the actual studies.

I wouldn't call the distinction here "social groups", though. I imagine the particular persons you're referring to are more simply sociopathic.

For more information on "groupism", see Muzafer Sherif's work in the Robbers Cave experiment.

Re:

[Reziac]

Well, it may be that unlimited self-esteem is a facet of that particular sociopathy :)

I heard about the study from a friend's wife who is shrink, but keep forgetting to ask for details.