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Study Shows Monkeys Like Watching TV

Posted by samzenpus on from the jungle-news-network dept.

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."

6 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. And right now by dread · · Score: 5, Funny

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

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    I've had a wonderful time, but this wasn't it -- Groucho Marx
    1. Re:And right now by lgw · · Score: 4, Funny

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

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      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    2. Re:And right now by GooberToo · · Score: 3, Informative

      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.

  2. Well duh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Have you seen what's on TV these days?

  3. Shall we expand on this a bit? by Rogerborg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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!

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  4. Alternate description: by Desiderius · · Score: 5, Funny

    Study Shows Scientists Like Watching Monkeys Watching TV