Rouse, J, McDowall, L, Mitchell, Z et al. (2 more authors) (2020) Social competition stimulates cognitive performance in a sex-specific manner. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 287 (1935). 20201424. ISSN 0962-8452
Abstract
Social interactions are thought to be a critical driver in the evolution of cognitive ability. Cooperative interactions, such as pair bonding, rather than competitive interactions have been largely implicated in the evolution of increased cognition. This is despite competition traditionally being a very strong driver of trait evolution. Males of many species track changes in their social environment and alter their reproductive strategies in response to anticipated levels of competition. We predict this to be cognitively challenging. Using a Drosophila melanogaster model, we are able to distinguish between the effects of a competitive environment versus generic social contact by exposing flies to same-sex same-species competition versus different species partners, shown to present non-competitive contacts. Males increase olfactory learning/memory and visual memory after exposure to conspecific males only, a pattern echoed by increased expression of synaptic genes and an increased need for sleep. For females, largely not affected by mating competition, the opposite pattern was seen. The results indicate that specific social contacts dependent on sex, not simply generic social stimulation, may be an important evolutionary driver for cognitive ability in fruit flies.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 The Author(s). Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. This is an author produced version of a journal article published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | sperm competition; cognition; memory; learning |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > School of Biology (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Leverhulme Trust RPG-2016-184 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 02 Oct 2020 15:18 |
Last Modified: | 03 Oct 2020 06:03 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | The Royal Society |
Identification Number: | 10.1098/rspb.2020.1424 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:166208 |