"In people's patience and ability to wait for the larger reward higher, the higher the IQ, academic achievement, memory capacity, etc.," says Jeffrey R. Stevens, a comparative psychologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In primates, however, it is not like this. For them, it depends on the environment in which they live.
"Natural selection has equipped various animals varying degrees of patience, depending on what was exhibited in nature," says Stevens. In my research, trying to find out why some species of monkeys can wait a relatively long time to pay, while others will not wait even a moment, I prefer to take less, but now.
In my research, watched thirteen kinds of primates, gorillas from the tiny marmosets and determine the degree of patience and self-control while waiting for the reward.
His conclusion is that the bigger physique, larger brain, longevity and area, the more species would be able to postpone immediate consumption and wait for a larger reward.
Chimpanzees, who weighs about 85 kilograms, live for 60 years, and their area is about 90 square kilometers, are able to wait for a reward of about two minutes, which is the longest of all primates. In contrast, little Tamarin pinch, which weighs less than half a kilogram, the average lifespan is twenty years old, usually waits eight seconds before deciding for less reward for it now.
Stevens conducted his experiments in the past ten years in Berlin and Leipzig Zoo. Animals during the experiment to decide between a bowl with two fruits that could eat right away or bowl into which the fruit got some time to wait. The waiting time is gradually extended until the moment when all animals were waiting too long and opted immediate but smaller reward.
Source: Ekolist.cz
