London - We like to think that humans are much the superior species but perhaps monkeys could teach us a thing or two.
Researchers believe that brown capuchins are more savvy when it comes to getting value for money.
Psychological studies have shown how easy it is to fool people into thinking that price reflects quality.
In tests, they consistently preferred the taste of wine poured out of a bottle with an expensive label to exactly the same liquid with a cheap label.
But the monkeys were not so easily caught out. In an experiment, they were trained to swap tokens for rewards of flavoured ice, jelly or juice.
They learned that the rewards had different prices with a token buying three cheap treats but only one of the pricier goods.
The studies in the online journal Frontiers in Psychology showed the monkeys understood differences in price but refused to act as if higher-priced rewards tasted better.
Researcher Laurie Santos, from Yale University, US, said: “This is one of the first domains we’ve tested in which monkeys show more rational behaviour than humans.” - Daily Mail