![]() Social rule learning is a critical component of primate cognitive development ( Byrne and Bates, 2010 Cheney et al., 1995 Seyfarth and Cheney, 2012 Tomasello and Call, 1997), for which primates appear to have specialized mechanisms ( Flombaum and Santos, 2005 Hare et al., 2001 van de Waal et al., 2013 Voelkl and Huber, 2007). Like other social mammals ( Barnett, 1958 Blumstein, 2013 Crook et al., 1976 Hofer and East, 1993 Mann et al., 2000 Wittemeyer and Getz, 2007), primate social hierarchies are organized along familial lines ( Mitani et al., 2012), but since social knowledge is not limited to ego-centric relationships ( Barton and Dunbar, 1997 Cheney and Seyfarth, 1990, 2007 Seyfarth and Cheney, 2015 Seyfarth et al., 2005), the capacity for communication may be much larger and the complexity of the rules governing social interaction may be much higher. Primates are perhaps best distinguished from other animals by their sophisticated societies and the manner in which individuals understand and navigate these complexly structured and dynamic social systems. ![]() Here we argue that this species is particularly promising as a model for studying neural circuits of social behaviors and their dysfunctions in neuropsychiatric disorders. In weighing these factors against those of more widely used experimental models, many researchers have concluded that the marmoset model is likely to play a prominent role in the next chapter of neuroscience ( Belmonte et al., 2015). While this difference can be a hindrance in studying some aspects of brain organization and function, the small size offers a number of distinct experimental advantages. Most notably, they are unusually small primates, and in that respect nearly opposite to humans. ![]() On the other hand, marmosets are a unique species with their own distinct evolutionary history and behavioral repertoire. On the one hand, marmosets share with humans core features of brain architecture and function ( Bendor and Wang, 2005 Chaplin et al., 2013 Mitchell and Leopold, 2015) and the complex social and cognitive behaviors typical of the primate Order ( Digby, 1995 Digby and Barreto, 1993 Huber and Voelkl, 2009 Voelkl and Huber, 2007). There is some debate as to the suitability of marmosets, compared to more widely used animal models, especially the rhesus monkey for tapping into higher aspects of human cognition and rodents for functional dissection of neural circuitry. This renewed focus on an already established animal model species ( Bendor and Wang, 2005 Chaplin et al., 2013 Fritsches and Rosa, 1996 Roberts et al., 1994 Roberts and Wallis, 2000 Wang et al., 2005) has been driven, at least in part, by the prospect of developing primate transgenic lines ( Belmonte et al., 2015 Kaiser and Feng, 2015). ![]() There has been considerable interest recently in the common marmoset ( Callithrix jacchus) as a neuroscientific model organism. We anticipate that through parallel technical and paradigmatic advances, marmosets will become an essential model of human social behavior, including its dysfunction in nearly all neuropsychiatric disorders. These approaches generally embrace natural behavior and communication, which has been rare in conventional primate testing, and thus allow for a new consideration of neural mechanisms underlying primate social cognition and communication. In this review, we describe key facets of marmoset natural social behavior and demonstrate that emerging behavioral paradigms are well suited to isolate components of marmoset cognition that are highly relevant to humans. They are also notably pro-social and exhibit social cognitive abilities, such as imitation, that are rare outside of the Apes. For example, marmosets are amongst only a handful of primates that, like humans, routinely pair bond and care cooperatively for their young. While conditioned task performance of a marmoset can compare unfavorably with rhesus monkey performance on conventional testing paradigms, marmosets’ social cognition and communication are more similar to that of humans. In step with technical advances is the need to establish experimental paradigms that optimally tap into the marmosets’ behavioral and cognitive capacities. Much of this excitement has centered on the species’ reproductive biology and compatibility with gene editing techniques, which together have provided a path for transgenic marmosets to contribute to the study of disease as well as basic brain mechanisms. The common marmoset ( Callithrix jacchus) has garnered interest recently as a powerful model for the future of neuroscience research.
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