The cognitive challenges of cooperation in human and nonhuman animals

Melis, Alicia P.; Raihani, Nichola

doi:10.1038/s44159-023-00207-7

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 203 publications

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“…Our model demonstrated that more cooperative individuals can evolve to show higher plasticity compared to less cooperative individuals, even under very simple behavioural and evolutionary rules. This suggests that the behaviour that we observed in this experiment can arise via simple evolutionary processes, and does not rely on high levels of cognition that other mechanisms of assortment might rely on (e.g., reputational book-keeping (35)). We also found that the relative cost incurred when nobody cooperates affected the strength of the relationship between cooperation and plasticity, suggesting that ecological factors could be important in the relationship between these traits.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Going with the flow: evidence for phenotypic variation in cooperative plasticity during predator inspection in Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata)

Dimitriadou,

Padget,

Jack

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Assortative interactions can be key for the evolution and maintenance of cooperation. Assortment by cooperative phenotype arises from behavioural plasticity, genetic polymorphism, or a combination of both. For example, individuals can cooperate conditional on social partner behaviour, and tolerance of unfavourable behaviour may correlate with an individual’s cooperative phenotype, but this has yet to be investigated outside of humans. Here, we used the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata) to explore whether individuals that differed in their cooperativeness also differed in the plasticity of their response to changing cooperativeness in a simulated social partner. To identify when selection may favour high or low plasticity as a function of cooperativeness, we also developed an evolutionary simulation model, where individuals’ probability of cooperating was modelled alongside their plasticity. Our empirical results suggest that guppies that have been bred to make high cooperative investments in the context of predator inspection exhibit higher plasticity when partners switch from defection to cooperation, compared to guppies bred to make lower cooperative investments. Our agent-based model found that more cooperative individuals will show greater plasticity in their propensity to cooperate, compared to less cooperative individuals, except when there are no consequences of nobody cooperating. Combined, our findings show that more cooperative individuals might benefit from a greater capacity to adjust behaviour than less cooperative individuals do. We suggest that this could facilitate assortment by cooperative phenotype, contributing to the evolution of this risky cooperative behaviour.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Going with the flow: evidence for phenotypic variation in cooperative plasticity during predator inspection in Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata)

Dimitriadou,

Padget,

Jack

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…These studies have sparked discussions regarding, for example, the cognitive prerequisites for and affective aspects of cooperation, methodological challenges for empirical research on cooperation and prosociality across taxa, and contextual factors influencing the outcome of experiments on prosociality (e.g. Brosnan et al 2010 ; Cronin 2012 ; Marshall-Pescini et al 2016 ; Massen et al 2019 ; Melis and Raihani 2023 ). However, comparisons across studies and species may be hampered by considerable variation in the underlying concepts and what counts as prosocial behaviour (Pfattheicher et al 2022 ).…”

Section: Towards a Conceptual Framework For Comparative Research Into...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The proximate regulation of prosocial behaviour: towards a conceptual framework for comparative research

Kopp,

Kanngiesser,

Brügger

et al. 2024

Anim Cogn

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Humans and many other animal species act in ways that benefit others. Such prosocial behaviour has been studied extensively across a range of disciplines over the last decades, but findings to date have led to conflicting conclusions about prosociality across and even within species. Here, we present a conceptual framework to study the proximate regulation of prosocial behaviour in humans, non-human primates and potentially other animals. We build on psychological definitions of prosociality and spell out three key features that need to be in place for behaviour to count as prosocial: benefitting others, intentionality, and voluntariness. We then apply this framework to review observational and experimental studies on sharing behaviour and targeted helping in human children and non-human primates. We show that behaviours that are usually subsumed under the same terminology (e.g. helping) can differ substantially across and within species and that some of them do not fulfil our criteria for prosociality. Our framework allows for precise mapping of prosocial behaviours when retrospectively evaluating studies and offers guidelines for future comparative work.

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“…Animals in this category not only understand their partner’s role but also form shared representations of the shared goal and have a mutual commitment to achieve it together. This form of collaboration is a hallmark of human cooperation and is demonstrated by children from around 3 years old onward (reviewed in [ 4 , 30 ]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for socially influenced and potentially actively coordinated cooperation by bumblebees

Loukola,

Antinoja,

Mäkelä

et al. 2024

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Cooperation is common in animals, yet the specific mechanisms driving collaborative behaviour in different species remain unclear. We investigated the proximate mechanisms underlying the cooperative behaviour of bumblebees in two different tasks, where bees had to simultaneously push a block in an arena or a door at the end of a tunnel for access to reward. In both tasks, when their partner’s entry into the arena/tunnel was delayed, bees took longer to first push the block/door compared with control bees that learned to push alone. In the tunnel task, just before gaining access to reward, bees were more likely to face towards their partner than expected by chance or compared with controls. These results show that bumblebees’ cooperative behaviour is not simply a by-product of individual efforts but is socially influenced. We discuss how bees’ turning behaviours, e.g. turning around before first reaching the door when their partner was delayed and turning back towards the door in response to seeing their partner heading towards the door, suggest the potential for active coordination. However, because these behaviours could also be interpreted as combined responses to social and secondary reinforcement cues, future studies are needed to help clarify whether bumblebees truly use active coordination.

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The cognitive challenges of cooperation in human and nonhuman animals

Cited by 5 publications

References 203 publications

Going with the flow: evidence for phenotypic variation in cooperative plasticity during predator inspection in Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata)

Going with the flow: evidence for phenotypic variation in cooperative plasticity during predator inspection in Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata)

The proximate regulation of prosocial behaviour: towards a conceptual framework for comparative research

Evidence for socially influenced and potentially actively coordinated cooperation by bumblebees

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