Redazione RHC : 12 August 2025 07:50
Why can’t we tear ourselves away from our screens, even when we’ve found what we’re looking for? Why do we keep mindlessly scrolling through our feeds while time flies by? Scientists are searching for answers to these questions, and perhaps monkeys with iPads can help.
In an experiment conducted at the Japan Central Institute of Experimental Medicine and Life Sciences, 14 monkeys were placed in a cage with tablets for 10 minutes. Nine short, silent videos of different primate species were shown simultaneously on the screen. If the animal touched one of the videos, it expanded to fill the entire screen, and the speakers played the characteristic monkey sound.
These “training sessions” were conducted two or three times a week for two months. The goal of the experiment was not to compare humans and monkeys via screens, but to test whether these animals could be used as models to study learning and the effects of visual and auditory stimuli on behavior. In other words, whether they would perceive sounds and images as rewards, like a piece of fruit.
The results were promising. According to the authors, the experiment demonstrated that the monkeys’ behavior in front of the touchscreen could be shaped and maintained using audiovisual stimuli. By the end of the two months, eight out of ten animals included in the final analysis were consistently touching the screen, indicating a consolidated association with the “reward.”
But what was particularly interesting was the next phase, the “extinction” test.
The researchers deactivated the reward: when it was touched, the screen remained dark and the audio did not play. The four monkeys did not reduce their activity and continued to touch the screen. This could mean that even a small change in the image can maintain interest, which goes some way to explaining why we can scroll through TikTok for hours without feeling like we’ve received anything valuable.
The researchers emphasize that this model could help better understand how people’s addiction to screens is formed and maintained, and what influences the development of addiction to audiovisual stimuli.
The work was published in the International Journal of Comparative Psychology.
Redazione