This is a large and ambitious longitudinal project that examines how empathy develops across human infants across cultures as well as in bonobos and chimpanzees, our closest living relatives. The research spans four continents, multiple research teams, research sites, species, methods and approaches. Thus far, despite the setbacks from the global COVID pandemic, we have successfully initiated a large cross-cultural and cross-species research project.
For human research, we are in the process of amassing a large longitudinal dataset of over three hundred (N = 300) human infants across two diverse sites in Uganda (Mbarara, SW Uganda and Budongo, W Uganda, N = 250), as well as in the UK (North-East UK, N= 50) to examine how empathy develops. Working with local research teams and partners across two diverse sites in Uganda (one rural and one urban) and one in the UK, we are in the process of collecting rich longitudinal data across four key time points (3 months, 10m, 16m and 24m) with a mixed-methods approach that combines naturalistic observations, behavioural experiments, innovative methodologies and extensive survey data. These datasets enable unique and rich insights into the milestones of infant empathy development, the role of caregiver behaviour and interactions and the socio-cultural environment.
For comparative research, we are conducting an longitudinal study on empathy development in wild bonobos and chimpanzees, our closest living relatives. Teams are in the process of collecting naturalistic behavioural observations from N = 39 wild bonobo mother-infant pairs spanning five communities from two different field sites in DR Congo (N = 23 mother-infant pairs at Wamba, N = 16 at Kokolopori). This multi-site, multi-group comparison enables rich insights into the extent of within-species variability in infant socio-emotional development. To enable a cross-species comparison, we are also completing coding and analysis of comparable data on N = 28 mother-infant pairs from three wild chimpanzee communities in Uganda.
Finally, we are also conducting innovative behavioural experimental research with multiple populations of captive bonobos and chimpanzees in order to understand the evolutionary basis of the cognitive and affective mechanisms of empathy. This involves the use of novel noninvasive technologies including infra-red thermal imagery and pupillometry to detect the affective basis of empathy and eyetracking to detect the cognitive mechanisms.
