scholarly journals The collective behavior of ant groups depends on group genotypic composition

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin T. Walsh ◽  
Anna Garonski ◽  
Claire Jackan ◽  
Timothy A. Linksvayer
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Collective Behavior ◽  
Genetic Architecture ◽  
Additive Models ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Genetic Composition ◽  
Collective Behaviors ◽  
Genotypic Combination ◽  
Single Colony ◽  
Group Members

AbstractIncreasingly, researchers document variation between groups in collective behavior, but the genetic architecture of collective behavior and how the genotypic composition of groups affects collective behavior remains unclear. Social insects are ideal for studying the effects of genetic variation on collective behavior because their societies are defined by social interactions. To explore how the genetic composition of groups affects collective behavior, we constructed groups of pharaoh ants (Monomorium pharaonis) from 33 genetically distinct colonies of known pedigree. The groups consisted of either all workers from the same single colony or workers from two genetically different colonies, and we assayed the exploration and aggression of the groups. We found that collective behavior depended on the specific genotypic combination of group members, i.e. we found evidence for genotype-by-genotype epistasis for both collective behaviors. Furthermore, the observed collective behavior of groups differed from the additive genetic expectations of groups, further demonstrating the importance of genotype-by-genotype effects. Finally, the collective aggression of the groups was negatively correlated with the pairwise relatedness estimates between workers within the group. Overall, this study highlights that specific combinations of genotypes influence group-level phenotypes and the difficulty of predicting group-level phenotypes using only additive models.

scholarly journals Discrete modes of social information processing predict individual behavior of fish in a group

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (38) ◽  
pp. 10149-10154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Harpaz ◽  
Gašper Tkačik ◽  
Elad Schneidman
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Information Processing ◽  
Collective Behavior ◽  
Single Mode ◽  
Group Behavior ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Individual Behavior ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Adult Zebrafish ◽  
Passive Mode

Individual computations and social interactions underlying collective behavior in groups of animals are of great ethological, behavioral, and theoretical interest. While complex individual behaviors have successfully been parsed into small dictionaries of stereotyped behavioral modes, studies of collective behavior largely ignored these findings; instead, their focus was on inferring single, mode-independent social interaction rules that reproduced macroscopic and often qualitative features of group behavior. Here, we bring these two approaches together to predict individual swimming patterns of adult zebrafish in a group. We show that fish alternate between an “active” mode, in which they are sensitive to the swimming patterns of conspecifics, and a “passive” mode, where they ignore them. Using a model that accounts for these two modes explicitly, we predict behaviors of individual fish with high accuracy, outperforming previous approaches that assumed a single continuous computation by individuals and simple metric or topological weighing of neighbors’ behavior. At the group level, switching between active and passive modes is uncorrelated among fish, but correlated directional swimming behavior still emerges. Our quantitative approach for studying complex, multimodal individual behavior jointly with emergent group behavior is readily extensible to additional behavioral modes and their neural correlates as well as to other species.

scholarly journals Genetic architecture of collective behaviors in zebrafish

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenlong Tang ◽  
Guoqiang Zhang ◽  
Fabrizio Serluca ◽  
Jingyao Li ◽  
Xiaorui Xiong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Collective Behavior ◽  
Adrenergic Receptor ◽  
Genetic Architecture ◽  
Single Gene ◽  
Gene Mutations ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Adult Zebrafish ◽  
Inner Mitochondrial Membrane ◽  
Collective Behaviors ◽  
Species Survival

AbstractCollective behaviors of groups of animals, such as schooling and shoaling of fish, are central to species survival, but genes that regulate these activities are not known. Here we parsed collective behavior of groups of adult zebrafish using computer vision and unsupervised machine learning into a set of highly reproducible, unitary, several hundred millisecond states and transitions, which together can account for the entirety of relative positions and postures of groups of fish. Using CRISPR-Cas9 we then targeted for knockout 35 genes associated with autism and schizophrenia. We found mutations in three genes had distinctive effects on the amount of time spent in the specific states or transitions between states. Mutation in immp2l (inner mitochondrial membrane peptidase 2-like gene) enhances states of cohesion, so increases shoaling; mutation in in the Nav1.1 sodium channel, scn1lab+/− causes the fish to remain scattered without evident social interaction; and mutation in the adrenergic receptor, adra1aa−/−, keeps fish close together and retards transitions between states, leaving fish motionless for long periods. Motor and visual functions seemed relatively well-preserved. This work shows that the behaviors of fish engaged in collective activities are built from a set of stereotypical states. Single gene mutations can alter propensities to collective actions by changing the proportion of time spent in these states or the tendency to transition between states. This provides an approach to begin dissection of the molecular pathways used to generate and guide collective actions of groups of animals.

scholarly journals Genotype-by-genotype epistasis for exploratory behaviour in D. simulans

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1928) ◽  
pp. 20200057
Author(s):  
Allison Jaffe ◽  
Madeline P. Burns ◽  
Julia B. Saltz
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Genetic Architecture ◽  
Genetic Basis ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Exploratory Behaviour ◽  
Genotype Group ◽  
Quantitative Genetic ◽  
Social Plasticity ◽  
Group Members

Social interactions can influence the expression and underlying genetic basis of many traits. Yet, empirical investigations of indirect genetic effects (IGEs) and genotype-by-genotype epistasis—quantitative genetics parameters representing the role of genetic variation in a focal individual and its interacting partners in producing the observed trait values—are still scarce. While it is commonly observed that an individual's traits are influenced by the traits of interacting conspecifics, representing social plasticity, studying this social plasticity and its quantitative-genetic basis is notoriously challenging. These challenges are compounded when individuals interact in groups, rather than (simpler) dyads. Here, we investigate the genetic architecture of social plasticity for exploratory behaviour, one of the most intensively studied behaviours in recent decades. Using genotypes of Drosophila simulans , we measured genotypes both alone, and in social groups representing a mix of two genotypes. We found that females adjusted their exploratory behaviour based on the behaviour of others in the group, representing social plasticity. However, the direction of this plasticity depended on the identity of group members: focal individuals were more likely to emerge from a refuge if group members who were the same genotype as the focal remained inside for longer. By contrast, focal individuals were less likely to emerge from a refuge if partner-genotype group members remained inside for longer. Exploratory behaviour also depended on the identities of both genotypes that composed the group. Together, these findings demonstrate genotype-by-genotype epistasis for exploratory behaviour both within and among groups.

A study of crowd-collaborative learning: an empirical study

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 622-635
Author(s):  
Wen-Shan Lin ◽  
Yi-Ju Wang ◽  
Hong-Ren Chen
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Comparison ◽  
Hierarchical Linear Modeling ◽  
Group Performance ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Group Members

Purpose Information technology is widely applied for completing group tasks and enhancing learning in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. Group members not only complete tasks but also learn ideas from other members of the group. These ideas can be better than what individual could come up with. As these ideas are referred as an upward comparison in the perspective of social comparison theory. However, there are limited studies that provide evidence in investigating how social comparison orientation (SCO) perceived by individual learner impacts on learning and group performance. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This study experimentally tackles this problem at both individual and group level. An experimental study was applied in this study. Structural equation modeling and hierarchical linear modeling approaches are used to validate the data. Findings Results of 168 subjects reveal that SCO does have associations with group performance and learning performance respectively. Discussions and implications for literature and practice are given at the end of the paper. Originality/value This study confirms that the social genesis occurs more effectively through social interactions in CSCL. It also extends our understandings about the impacts of SCO. Results reveal that the higher level of SCO adopted by group members, the higher level of social interactions at group level can be triggered. As a result, the group performance can be enhanced. On one hand, these findings bridge the research gap in terms of investigating the notion of SCT on CSCL. On the other hand, it provides a possible solution in alleviating the problem of social loafing as commonly observed in CSCL. Therefore, these findings fulfilled the two research objectives.

scholarly journals Using multilayer network analysis to explore the temporal dynamics of collective behavior

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David N Fisher ◽  
Noa Pinter-Wollman
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Collective Behavior ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Multilayer Network ◽  
Collective Behaviors ◽  
The Social ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Social organisms often show collective behaviors such as group foraging or movement. Collective behaviors can emerge from interactions between group members and may depend on the behavior of key individuals. When social interactions change over time, collective behaviors may change because these behaviors emerge from interactions among individuals. Despite the importance of, and growing interest in, the temporal dynamics of social interactions, it is not clear how to quantify changes in interactions over time or measure their stability. Furthermore, the temporal scale at which we should observe changes in social networks to detect biologically meaningful changes is not always apparent. Here we use multilayer network analysis to quantify temporal dynamics of social networks of the social spider Stegodyphus dumicola and determine how these dynamics relate to individual and group behaviors. We found that social interactions changed over time at a constant rate. Variation in both network structure and the identity of a keystone individual was not related to the mean or variance of the collective prey attack speed. Individuals that maintained a large and stable number of connections, despite changes in network structure, were the boldest individuals in the group. Therefore, social interactions and boldness are linked across time, but group collective behavior is not influenced by the stability of the social network. Our work demonstrates that dynamic social networks can be modeled in a multilayer framework. This approach may reveal biologically important temporal changes to social structure in other systems.

The Epistemology of Groups

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Lackey
Keyword(s):  
Group Level ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Individual Group ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Normative Requirements ◽  
Group Members ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Belief Justification ◽  
In Virtue Of ◽  
Trump Administration

Groups are often said to bear responsibility for their actions, many of which have enormous moral, legal, and social significance. The Trump Administration, for instance, is said to be responsible for the U.S.’s inept and deceptive handling of COVID-19 and the harms that American citizens have suffered as a result. But are groups subject to normative assessment simply in virtue of their individual members being so, or are they somehow agents in their own right? Answering this question depends on understanding key concepts in the epistemology of groups, as we cannot hold the Trump Administration responsible without first determining what it believed, knew, and said. Deflationary theorists hold that group phenomena can be understood entirely in terms of individual members and their states. Inflationary theorists maintain that group phenomena are importantly over and above, or otherwise distinct from, individual members and their states. It is argued that neither approach is satisfactory. Groups are more than their members, but not because they have “minds of their own,” as the inflationists hold. Instead, this book shows how group phenomena—like belief, justification, and knowledge—depend on what the individual group members do or are capable of doing while being subject to group-level normative requirements. This framework, it is argued, allows for the correct distribution of responsibility across groups and their individual members.

scholarly journals Markerless tracking of an entire honey bee colony

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Bozek ◽  
Laetitia Hebert ◽  
Yoann Portugal ◽  
Greg J. Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
True Positive Rate ◽  
Computational Method ◽  
Visual Features ◽  
Brood Cell ◽  
Collective Behaviors ◽  
Markerless Tracking ◽  
Bee Colony ◽  
Positive Rate ◽  
Group Members

AbstractFrom cells in tissue, to bird flocks, to human crowds, living systems display a stunning variety of collective behaviors. Yet quantifying such phenomena first requires tracking a significant fraction of the group members in natural conditions, a substantial and ongoing challenge. We present a comprehensive, computational method for tracking an entire colony of the honey bee Apis mellifera using high-resolution video on a natural honeycomb background. We adapt a convolutional neural network (CNN) segmentation architecture to automatically identify bee and brood cell positions, body orientations and within-cell states. We achieve high accuracy (~10% body width error in position, ~10° error in orientation, and true positive rate > 90%) and demonstrate months-long monitoring of sociometric colony fluctuations. These fluctuations include ~24 h cycles in the counted detections, negative correlation between bee and brood, and nightly enhancement of bees inside comb cells. We combine detected positions with visual features of organism-centered images to track individuals over time and through challenging occluding events, recovering ~79% of bee trajectories from five observation hives over 5 min timespans. The trajectories reveal important individual behaviors, including waggle dances and crawling inside comb cells. Our results provide opportunities for the quantitative study of collective bee behavior and for advancing tracking techniques of crowded systems.

Pluralistic Ignorance Research in Psychology: A Scoping Review of Topic and Method Variation and Directions for Future Research

2021 ◽  
pp. 108926802199516
Author(s):  
Rikki H. Sargent ◽  
Leonard S. Newman
Keyword(s):  
Scoping Review ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Pluralistic Ignorance ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Group Members

Pluralistic ignorance occurs when group members mistakenly believe others’ cognitions and/or behaviors are systematically different from their own. More than 20 years have passed since the last review of pluralistic ignorance from a psychological framework, with more than 60 empirical articles assessing pluralistic ignorance published since then. Previous reviews took an almost entirely conceptual approach with minimal review of methodology, making existing reviews outdated and limited in the extent to which they can provide guidelines for researchers. The goal of this review is to evaluate and integrate the literature on pluralistic ignorance, clarify important conceptual issues, identify inconsistencies in the literature, and provide guidance for future research. We provide a comprehensive definition for the phenomenon, with a focus on its status as a group-level phenomenon. We highlight three areas of variation in particular in the current scoping review: variation in topics assessed, variation in measurement, and (especially) variation in methods for assessing the implications of individual-level misperceptions that, in aggregate, lead to pluralistic ignorance. By filling these gaps in the literature, we ultimately hope to motivate further analysis of the phenomenon.

scholarly journals Is There a “Right” Side of Communicating Friendship? Lateralization of Social Interactions in Zoo Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus)

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 3288
Author(s):  
Marzia Baldachini ◽  
Barbara Regaiolli ◽  
Miquel Llorente ◽  
David Riba ◽  
Caterina Spiezio
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Social Ranking ◽  
Macaca Sylvanus ◽  
Barbary Macaques ◽  
Focal Animal ◽  
The Social ◽  
Side Preference ◽  
The Right

Social laterality in non-human primates has started to attract attention in recent years. The positioning of individuals during social interactions could possibly suggest the nature of a relationship and the social ranking of the subjects involved. The subjects of the present study were 12 adult Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) housed in a zoological garden. We carried out fourteen 210-min video-recorded sessions and we used a focal animal sampling method to collect the position of the subjects during different social interactions. Data on the position of each macaque during three types of social interactions were collected (approach, proximity and affiliative contacts). Moreover, we focused on the outcomes of dyadic agonistic encounters to build the hierarchy of the colony. For each social interaction, two conditions were considered: the side preference (being kept on the left or on the right) and the sagittal preference (being kept in front or on the rear). Bouts of preference of different positions were collected for different social interactions (approach, proximity and contacts). No group-level side preferences were found for any social interaction, suggesting that both hemispheres might be complemental and balance each other during intraspecific communication. For the sagittal preference, we found a group-level bias for proximity, with macaques being kept in front rather than on the rear by close conspecifics. This might be due to the need to detect emotions and intentions of conspecifics. Moreover, high-ranking individuals are kept more frontally than on the rear when in proximity with other macaques. More studies are needed to better investigate social laterality, possibly distinguishing more categories of social interaction, and detecting other variables that might influence the positioning preferences.

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