Bolder marmoset monkeys learn faster than shy ones

An adult male marmoset named Baltazar, while exploring a tree branch. Vedrana Šlipogor) Cognitive capabilities in marmoset monkeys are influenced by both their personality as well as family group membership Individual traits seem to drive our learning success: for instance, conscientious individuals often show higher academic performance. A group of cognitive and behavioural biologists from University of Vienna conducted personality assessments and a battery of learning tests with common marmosets and found that such a link, intertwined with family group membership, exists in these monkeys, too. The study results were recently published in the journal "Scientific Reports". It has long been thought that only humans have personalities, but in recent decades personalities have been found in animals from spiders to apes. Similar personality traits are often shared between animals characterized as "friends" and sometimes even their whole social groups. Personalities have been linked to many life-history traits, but also to cognitive capabilities, like academic or work performance in humans.