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5,666 results for “Social”
Data from: Social interactions elicit rapid shifts in functional connectivity in the social decision-making network of zebrafish
According to the social decision-making (SDM) network hypothesis, SDM is encoded in a network of forebrain and midbrain structures in a distributed and dynamic fashion, such that the expression of a given social behaviour is better reflected by the overall profile of activation across the different loci rather than by the activity of a single node. This proposal has the implicit assumption that SDM relies on integration across brain regions, rather than on regional specialization. Here we tested the occurrence of functional localization and of functional connectivity in the SDM network. For this purpose we used zebrafish to map different social behaviour states into patterns of neuronal activity, as indicated by the expression of the immediate early genes c-fos and egr-1, across the SDM network. The results did not support functional localization, as some loci had similar patterns of activity associated with different social behaviour states, and showed socially driven changes in functional connectivity. Thus, this study provides functional support to the SDM network hypothesis and suggests that the neural context in which a given node of the network is operating (i.e. the state of its interconnected areas) is central to its functional relevance.
Data from: Tadpole body size and behavior alter the social acquisition of a defensive bacterial symbiont
Individual differences in host phenotypes can generate heterogeneity in the acquisition and transmission of microbes. Although this has become a prominent factor of disease epidemiology, host phenotypic variation might similarly underlie the transmission of microbial symbionts that defend against pathogen infection. Using green frog (Lithobates clamitans) tadpoles, we test whether body size and behavior influence the social acquisition of a skin bacterium, Janthinobacterium lividum, which in some hosts can confer protection against infection by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, the causative agent of the amphibian skin disease chytridiomycosis. We measured body size and boldness (time spent in an open field) of green frog tadpoles and haphazardly constructed groups of six individuals. In some groups we exposed one individual in each group to J. lividum and, in other groups, we inoculated a patch of aquarium pebbles to J. lividum. After 24hr, we swabbed each individual to estimate the presence of J. lividum on their skin. On average, tadpoles acquired nearly four times more bacteria when housed with an exposed individual compared to those housed with a patch of inoculated substrate. When tadpoles were housed with an exposed group-mate, larger and "bolder" individuals acquired more bacteria. These data suggest that phenotypically-biased acquisition of defensive symbionts might generate biased patterns of mortality from the pathogens against which they protect.
Data from: Experimental evidence that primate trichromacy is well suited for detecting primate social colour signals
Primate trichromatic colour vision has been hypothesized to be well tuned for detecting variation in facial coloration, which could be due to selection on either signal wavelengths or the sensitivities of the photoreceptors themselves. We provide one of the first empirical tests of this idea by asking whether, when compared with other visual systems, the information obtained through primate trichromatic vision confers an improved ability to detect the changes in facial colour that female macaque monkeys exhibit when they are proceptive. We presented pairs of digital images of faces of the same monkey to human observers and asked them to select the proceptive face. We tested images that simulated what would be seen by common catarrhine trichromatic vision, two additional trichromatic conditions and three dichromatic conditions. Performance under conditions of common catarrhine trichromacy, and trichromacy with narrowly separated LM cone pigments (common in female platyrrhines), was better than for evenly spaced trichromacy or for any of the dichromatic conditions. These results suggest that primate trichromatic colour vision confers excellent ability to detect meaningful variation in primate face colour. This is consistent with the hypothesis that social information detection has acted on either primate signal spectral reflectance or photoreceptor spectral tuning, or both.
Data from: Competition is crucial for social comparison processes in long-tailed macaques
Humans modulate their self-evaluations and behaviour as a function of conspecific presence and performance. In this study we tested for the presence of human-like social comparison effects in long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis). The monkeys' task was to extract food from an apparatus by pulling drawers within reach and we measured latency between drawer-pulls. Subjects either worked on the task with a partner who could access the apparatus from an adjacent cage, worked in the absence of a conspecific but with food moving towards the partner's side or worked next to a partner who was denied apparatus access. We further manipulated partner performance and competitiveness of the setup. We found no indication that long-tailed macaques compare their performance to the performance of conspecifics. They were not affected by the mere presence of the partner but they paid close attention to the partner's actions when they were consequential for food availability. If social comparison processes are present in long-tailed macaques, the present study suggests they may only manifest in situations involving direct competition and would thus be different from social comparisons in humans, which manifest also in the absence of direct competition, for example in evaluative contexts.
Data from: A method for detecting characteristic patterns in social interactions with an application to handover interactions
Social interactions are a defining behavioural trait of social animals. Discovering characteristic patterns in the display of such behaviour is one of the fundamental endeavours in behavioural biology and psychology, as this promises to facilitate the general understanding, classification, prediction and even automation of social interactions. We present a novel approach to study characteristic patterns, including both sequential and synchronous actions in social interactions. The key concept in our analysis is to represent social interactions as sequences of behavioural states and to focus on changes in behavioural states shown by individuals rather than on the duration for which they are displayed. We extend techniques from data mining and bioinformatics to detect frequent patterns in these sequences and to assess how these patterns vary across individuals or changes in interaction tasks. To illustrate our approach and to demonstrate its potential, we apply it to novel data on a simple physical interaction, where one person hands a cup to another person. Our findings advance the understanding of handover interactions, a benchmark scenario for social interactions. More generally, we suggest that our approach permits a general perspective for studying social interactions.
Data from: Human children rely more on social information than chimpanzees
Human societies are characterized by more cultural diversity than chimpanzee communities. However, it is currently unclear what mechanism might be driving this difference. Since reliance on social information is a pivotal characteristic of culture, we investigated individual and social information reliance in children and chimpanzees. We repeatedly presented subjects with a reward-retrieval task on which they had collected conflicting individual and social information of equal accuracy in counterbalanced order. While both species relied mostly on their individual information, children but not chimpanzees searched for the reward at the socially demonstrated location more than at a random location. Moreover, only children used social information adaptively when individual knowledge on the location of the reward had not yet been obtained. These results support the interpretation that a heightened tendency to absorb social information may help explain why humans are more culturally diversified than chimpanzees.
Data from: Personality remains: no effect of 3-week social status experience on personality in male fowl
Individuals often differ in behavior in a consistent way, i.e. show variation in personality. Understanding the processes explaining the emergence and maintenance of this variation is a major topic in the field of animal behavioral research. Recent theoretical models predict that differences in various 'states' can generate individual variation in behavior. Previous studies have mainly focused on endogenous states like metabolic rate or energy reserves, but theory also suggests that states based on social interactions could play important roles in shaping personality. We have earlier demonstrated short-term status-dependent variation in behavior in the domestic fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus), but whether such behavioral variation remains also after a longer period of time, is unknown. Therefore, we examine the influence of social status on variation in behavior, using experimental manipulation of social status in pairs of male domestic fowl. We scored males in three personality assays (novel arena test, novel object test aggression test) before and after three weeks in pairs as either dominant or subordinate. We observed individual consistency of behavior despite alteration of social status. We further found no support for social status acting as a state that generates variation in personality over the used time interval: social status had no significant effect on the change in behavioral responses between repeated personality tests. Our results suggest that personality is more important than current social situation for describing individual behavior in stable groups.
Data from: Social learning in a high-risk environment: incomplete disregard for the 'minnow that cried pike' results in culturally transmitted neophobia
Many prey species rely on conspecifics to gather information about unknown predation threats, but little is known about the role of varying environmental conditions on the efficacy of social learning. We examined predator-naive minnows that had the opportunity to learn about predators from experienced models that were raised in either a low- or high-risk environment. There were striking differences in behaviour among models; high-risk models showed a weaker response to the predator cue and became neophobic in response to the control cue (a novel odour, NO). Observers that were previously paired with low-risk models acquired a strong antipredator response only to the predator cue. However, observers that interacted with high-risk models, displayed a much weaker response to the predator odour and a weak neophobic response to the NO. This is the first study reporting such different outcomes of social learning under different environmental conditions, and suggests high-risk environments promote the cultural transmission of neophobia more so than social learning. If such a transfer can be considered similar to secondary traumatization in humans, culturally transmitted neophobia in minnows may provide a good model system for understanding more about the social ecology of fear disorders.
Data from: Social associations between California sea lions influence the use of a novel foraging ground
Social relationships define an individual's position in its social network, which can influence the acquisition and spread of information and behavioural variants through the population. Thus, when nuisance behaviours spread through wildlife populations, identifying central individuals may provide valuable insights for problem-species management. We studied the effects of network position on California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) discovery and foraging success at a novel foraging ground—the salmonids that aggregate at the Bonneville Dam tail-race, 235 km up the Columbia River. We found that an individual's centrality in their social network influenced discovery of the Bonneville Dam and whether they returned the next year. Foraging success once at the dam was independent of network position. Extensive lethal and non-lethal removal efforts have been implemented at Bonneville Dam and focused on reducing the number of individual sea lions at the dam. Since social relationships forged at the opening of the Columbia River influence both the discovery and return to the Bonneville Dam, efforts to increase salmon recovery may be enhanced by breaking apart social networks at the opening of the river.
Data from: Sex ratio and gamete size across eastern North America in Dictyostelium discoideum, a social amoeba with three sexes
Theory indicates that numbers of mating types should tend towards infinity or remain at two. The social amoeba, Dictyostelium discoideum, however, has three mating types. It is therefore a mystery how this species has broken the threshold of two mating types, but has not increased towards a much higher number. Frequency dependent selection on rare types in combination with isogamy, a form of reproduction involving gametes similar in size, could explain the evolution of multiple mating types in this system. Other factors, such as drift, may be preventing the evolution of more than three. We first looked for evidence of isogamy by measuring gamete size associated with each type. We found no evidence of size dissimilarities between gametes. We then looked for evidence of balancing selection, by examining mating type distributions in natural populations and comparing genetic differentiation at the mating type locus to that at more neutral loci. We found that mating type frequency varied among the three populations we examined, with only one of the three showing an even sex ratio, which does not support balancing selection. However, we found more population structure at neutral loci than the mating type locus, suggesting that the three mating types are indeed maintained at intermediate frequencies by balancing selection. Overall, the data are consistent with balancing selection acting on D. discoideum mating types, but with a sufficiently weak rare sex advantage to allow for drift, a potential explanation for why these amoebae have only three mating types.
Data from: Prior information and social experience influence male reproductive decisions
Increasing attention has focused on understanding how past experiences can influence and explain variation in mating preferences among individuals. We examined how previous social experiences affected courtship preferences in Drosophila melanogaster by exposing individual males to different frequency distributions of high- and low-quality (HQ and LQ) females and by allowing them to copulate with either a HQ or LQ mate. For a male, a large female represents a high-quality mate while a small female is a low-quality mate. We subsequently quantified the courtship behavior of these individuals in the presence of one HQ and one LQ female. Two aspects of male courtship behavior were significantly influenced by prior experience. Males previously exposed to a population of 75% HQ females more often initially courted the HQ than LQ female and more strongly biased overall courtship activity toward the HQ female compared to males previously exposed to a population of 25% HQ females. Furthermore, for some males, the type of female a male mated with in the experience phase influenced the type of female he first courted in the test phase: males that experienced a population containing only 25% HQ females and who mated with a LQ female in the experience phase, more often courted the LQ female first in the test phase while all other males biased courtship toward the HQ female. Our results indicate that information gained about the relative abundance of mate quality types and previous mating experience can affect future mating behavior.
Data from: Estrogen receptor alpha distribution and expression in the social neural network of monogamous and polygynous Peromyscus
In microtine and dwarf hamsters low levels of estrogen receptor alpha (ERa) in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) and medial amygdala (MeA) play a critical role in the expression of social monogamy in males, which is characterized by high levels of affiliation and low levels of aggression. In contrast, monogamous Peromyscus males display high levels of aggression and affiliative behavior with high levels of testosterone and aromatase activity. Suggesting the hypothesis that in Peromyscus ERa expression will be positively correlated with high levels of male prosocial behavior and aggression. ERa expression was compared within the social neural network, including the posterior medial BST, MeA posterodorsal, medial preoptic area (MPOA), ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH), and arcuate nucleus in two monogamous species, P. californicus and P. polionotus, and two polygynous species, P. leucopus and P. maniculatus. The results supported the prediction, with male P. polionotus and P. californicus expressing higher levels of ERa in the BST than their polygynous counter parts, and ERa expression was sexually dimorphic in the polygynous species, with females expressing significantly more than males in the BST in both polygynous species and in the MeA in P. leucopus. Peromyscus ERa expression also differed from rats, mice and microtines as in neither the MPOA nor the VMH was ERa sexually dimorphic. The results supported the hypothesis that higher levels of ERa are associated with monogamy in Peromyscus and that differential expression of ERa occurs in the same regions of the brains regardless of whether high or low expression is associated with social monogamy. Also discussed are possible mechanisms regulating this differential relationship.
Data from: Social information use and social learning in non-grouping fishes
Although it is natural to expect that group-living animals will utilize social learning, the expectation for non-grouping species is less clear. Only a few studies have explored the relationship between sociality and social learning. Here we presented 4 non-grouping fish species, fifteenspine sticklebacks (Spinachia spinachia), bullhead sculpins (Cottus gobio), stone loach (Barbatula barbatula) and juvenile European flounders (Platichthys flesus) with social information provided by groups of a shoal-forming heterospecific, the threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Using a binary choice procedure we allowed individual test subjects to select between simulated prey patches. Although the test subjects could not sample the patches directly they were able to use information generated by the heterospecific demonstrators to select the "richer" of the 2 patches. For comparison we also recorded social information use in 2 shoaling species, threespine, and ninespine sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius). We saw evidence of social information use and social learning in all 6 species, with no differences seen between social and non-grouping species. We argue that social learning is not likely to be restricted to group-living species, since many solitary species too are regularly exposed to social stimuli from both conspecifics and heterospecifics, and can benefit from using social information. We suggest that researchers have much to learn about the sensory, perceptive, and cognitive mechanisms underlying social learning, and the extent to which these vary (if at all) between grouping and non-grouping species.
Data from: Individual aggression, but not winner-loser effects, predicts social rank in male domestic fowl
Many factors can affect the probability for an individual to obtain a high social rank, including size, weaponry, and behavioral attributes such as aggression. Recent experiences of winning or losing can also affect the chances of winning future contests, commonly referred to as "winner–loser effects". Individuals often differ in behavior in a consistent way, including in aggression, thereby showing differences in personality. However, the relative importance of recent experience and aspects of personality in determining rank, as well as the extent to which winning or losing affects aggression, has rarely been studied. Here, we investigate these questions using male domestic fowl. We matched males for body size, comb size, and aggression in pair-wise duels to: 1) study the effect of contest outcome on aggression and 2) compare the effect of individual aggression and contest experience on future social status in small groups. We found that aggression was a highly repeatable personality trait and that aggression increased after winning and decreased after losing. Nevertheless, such winner–loser effects were not enough to increase the odds of becoming dominant in a small group. Instead, aggressiveness measured prior to a contest experience best predicted future rank. Boldness and exploration did not predict rank and of the 2, only boldness was positively correlated with aggressiveness. We conclude that for male domestic fowl in contests among phenotypically matched contestants, aggressiveness is more important for obtaining high rank than winner–loser effects, or other aspects of personality.
Data from: Copy-when-uncertain: bumblebees rely on social information when rewards are highly variable
To understand the relative benefits of social and personal information use in foraging decisions, we developed an agent-based model of social learning that predicts social information should be more adaptive where resources are highly variable and personal information where resources vary little. We tested our predictions with bumblebees and found that foragers relied more on social information when resources were variable than when they were not. We then investigated whether socially salient cues are used preferentially over non-social ones in variable environments. Although bees clearly used social cues in highly variable environments, under the same conditions they did not use non-social cues. These results suggest that bumblebees use a 'copy-when-uncertain' strategy.
Data from: Convergent evolution in social swallows (Aves: Hirundinidae)
Behavioral shifts can initiate morphological evolution by pushing lineages into new adaptive zones. This has primarily been examined in ecological behaviors, such as foraging, but social behaviors may also alter morphology. Swallows and martins (Hirundinidae) are aerial insectivores that exhibit a range of social behaviors, from solitary to colonial breeding and foraging. Using a well-resolved phylogenetic tree, a database of social behaviors, and morphological measurements, we ask how shifts from solitary to social breeding and foraging have affected morphological evolution in the Hirundinidae. Using a threshold model of discrete state evolution, we find that shifts in both breeding and foraging social behavior are common across the phylogeny of swallows. Solitary swallows have highly variable morphology, while social swallows show much less absolute variance in all morphological traits. Metrics of convergence based on both the trajectory of social lineages through morphospace and the overall morphological distance between social species scaled by their phylogenetic distance indicate strong convergence in social swallows, especially socially foraging swallows. Smaller physical traits generally observed in social species suggest that social species benefit from a distinctive flight style, likely increasing maneuverability and foraging success and reducing in-flight collisions within large flocks. These results highlight the importance of sociality in species evolution, a link that had previously been examined only in eusocial insects and primates.
Data from: How the online social networks are used: dialogs-based structure of MySpace
Quantitative study of collective dynamics in online social networks is a new challenge based on the abundance of empirical data. Conclusions, however, may depend on factors such as user's psychology profiles and their reasons to use the online contacts. In this study, we have compiled and analysed two datasets from MySpace. The data contain networked dialogues occurring within a specified time depth, high temporal resolution and texts of messages, in which the emotion valence is assessed by using the SentiStrength classifier. Performing a comprehensive analysis, we obtain three groups of results: dynamic topology of the dialogues-based networks have a characteristic structure with Zipf's distribution of communities, low link reciprocity and disassortative correlations. Overlaps supporting 'weak-ties' hypothesis are found to follow the laws recently conjectured for online games. Long-range temporal correlations and persistent fluctuations occur in the time series of messages carrying positive (negative) emotion; patterns of user communications have dominant positive emotion (attractiveness) and strong impact of circadian cycles and interactivity times longer than 1 day. Taken together, these results give a new insight into the functioning of online social networks and unveil the importance of the amount of information and emotion that is communicated along the social links. All data used in this study are fully anonymized.
Data from: Is sociality required for the evolution of communicative complexity? Evidence weighed against alternative hypotheses in diverse taxonomic groups
Complex social communication is expected to evolve whenever animals engage in many and varied social interactions; that is, sociality should promote communicative complexity. Yet informal comparisons among phylogenetically independent taxonomic groups seem to cast doubt on the putative role of social factors in the evolution of complex communication. Here, we provide a formal test of the sociality hypothesis along side alternative explanations for the evolution of communicative complexity. We compiled data documenting variation in signal complexity among closely related species for several case study groups – ants, frogs, lizards and birds – and used new phylogenetic methods to investigate the factors underlying communication evolution. Social factors were only implicated in the evolution of complex visual signals in lizards. Ecology, and to some degree allometry, were most likely explanations for complexity in the vocal signals of frogs (ecology) and birds (ecology and allometry). There was some evidence for adaptive evolution in the pheromone complexity of ants, although no compelling selection pressure was identified. For most taxa, phylogenetic null models were consistently ranked above adaptive models and, for some taxa, signal complexity seems to have accumulated in species via incremental or random changes over long periods of evolutionary time. Becoming social presumably lead to the origin of social communication in animals, but its subsequent influence on the trajectory of signal evolution has been neither clear-cut nor general among taxonomic groups.
Data from: Social transmission of tool use and tool manufacture in Goffin cockatoos (Cacatua goffini)
Tool use can be inherited, or acquired as an individual innovation or by social transmission. Having previously reported individual innovative tool use and manufacture by a Goffin cockatoo, we used the innovator (Figaro, a male) as a demonstrator to investigate social transmission. Twelve Goffins saw either demonstrations by Figaro, or 'ghost' controls where tools and/or food were manipulated using magnets. Subjects observing demonstrations showed greater tool-related performance than ghost controls, with all three males in this group (but not the three females) acquiring tool-using competence. Two of these three males further acquired tool-manufacturing competence. As the actions of successful observers differed from those of the demonstrator, result emulation rather than high-fidelity imitation is the most plausible transmission mechanism.
Data from: Feces production as a form of social immunity in an insect with facultative maternal care
Background: Social animals have the unique capability of mounting social defenses against pathogens. Over the last decades, social immunity has been extensively studied in species with obligatory and permanent forms of social life. However, its occurrence in less derived social systems and thus its role in the early evolution of group-living remains unclear. Here, we investigated whether lining nests with feces is a form of social immunity against microbial growth in the European earwig Forficula auricularia, an insect with temporary family life and facultative maternal care. Results: Using a total of 415 inhibition zone assays, we showed that earwig feces inhibit the growth of two GRAM+ bacteria, two fungi, but not of a GRAM- bacteria. These inhibitions did not result from the consumed food or the nesting environment. We then demonstrated that the antimicrobial activity against fungus was higher in offspring than maternal feces, but that this difference was absent against bacteria. Finally, we showed that family interactions inhibited the antibacterial activity of maternal frass against one of the two GRAM+ bacteria, whereas they had no effect on the one of nymphal frass. By contrast, antifungal activities of the frass were independent of mother-offspring interactions. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that social immunity occurs in a species with simple and facultative social life, and thus shed light on the general importance of this process in the evolution of group-living. These results also emphasize that defecation can be under selection for other life-history traits than simple waste disposal.
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.