Neural correlates of individual facial recognition in a social wasp

Abstract

Individual recognition is critical for social behavior across species. Whether recognition is mediated by circuits specialized for social information processing has been a matter of debate. Here we examine the neurobiological underpinning of individual visual facial recognition inPolistes fuscatuspaper wasps. Front-facing images of conspecific wasps broadly increase activity across many brain regions relative to other stimuli. Notably, we identify a localized subpopulation of neurons in the protocerebrum which show specialized selectivity for front-facing wasp images, which we termwasp cells. Thesewasp cellsencode information regarding the facial patterns, with ensemble activity correlating with facial identity.Wasp cellsare strikingly analogous to face cells in primates, indicating that specialized circuits are likely an adaptive feature of neural architecture to support visual recognition.