Follow-up study of isolation-reared and mother-reared rhesus monkeys paired with preadolescent conspecifics in late infancy: Cross-sex pairings.

8 rhesus monkeys, 4 of each sex, which had been reared either with their mothers or in social isolation during early infancy, were paired with preadolescent conspecifics during late infancy. Some isolate-reared Ss appeared to have gained from this social experience. At nearly 3 yrs of age, each S was paired (sequentially) with 2 other-sex animals (1 isolate- and 1 mother-reared) after having been housed alone for the entire 2nd (and most of the 3rd) yr of life. Little social interaction occurred between the members of any pair. Several significant effects of rearing experience indicated that social experience with preadolescents in late infancy did not permanently reverse the deleterious effects of early isolation. However, the mother-reared Ss also failed to establish social rapport with one another. Comparison of these results with those of similar research employing mother-reared animals which had received supplemental social experience during the 2nd yr of life suggests that such social experience is of some importance for optimal development of later sociosexual behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)