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De Dreu CKW, Gross J, Romano A. Group Formation and the Evolution of Human Social Organization. PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2024; 19:320-334. [PMID: 37450408 PMCID: PMC10913362 DOI: 10.1177/17456916231179156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/18/2023]
Abstract
Humans operate in groups that are oftentimes nested in multilayered collectives such as work units within departments and companies, neighborhoods within cities, and regions within nation states. With psychological science mostly focusing on proximate reasons for individuals to join existing groups and how existing groups function, we still poorly understand why groups form ex nihilo, how groups evolve into complex multilayered social structures, and what explains fission-fusion dynamics. Here we address group formation and the evolution of social organization at both the proximate and ultimate level of analysis. Building on models of fitness interdependence and cooperation, we propose that socioecologies can create positive interdependencies among strangers and pave the way for the formation of stable coalitions and groups through reciprocity and reputation-based partner selection. Such groups are marked by in-group bounded, parochial cooperation together with an array of social institutions for managing the commons, allowing groups to scale in size and complexity while avoiding the breakdown of cooperation. Our analysis reveals how distinct group cultures can endogenously emerge from reciprocal cooperation, shows that social identification and group commitment are likely consequences rather than causes of group cooperation, and explains when intergroup relations gravitate toward peaceful coexistence, integration, or conflict.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jörg Gross
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich
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2
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Kret ME. Gaze into social bonds: Unlocking great ape emotions through eye-tracking. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2319953121. [PMID: 38147565 PMCID: PMC10769836 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2319953121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Mariska E. Kret
- Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden2333 AK, Netherlands
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3
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Lewis LS, Wessling EG, Kano F, Stevens JMG, Call J, Krupenye C. Bonobos and chimpanzees remember familiar conspecifics for decades. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2304903120. [PMID: 38109542 PMCID: PMC10756267 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2304903120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Accepted: 10/10/2023] [Indexed: 12/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Recognition and memory of familiar conspecifics provides the foundation for complex sociality and is vital to navigating an unpredictable social world [Tibbetts and Dale, Trends Ecol. Evol. 22, 529-537 (2007)]. Human social memory incorporates content about interactions and relationships and can last for decades [Sherry and Schacter, Psychol. Rev. 94, 439-454 (1987)]. Long-term social memory likely played a key role throughout human evolution, as our ancestors increasingly built relationships that operated across distant space and time [Malone et al., Int. J. Primatol. 33, 1251-1277 (2012)]. Although individual recognition is widespread among animals and sometimes lasts for years, little is known about social memory in nonhuman apes and the shared evolutionary foundations of human social memory. In a preferential-looking eye-tracking task, we presented chimpanzees and bonobos (N = 26) with side-by-side images of a previous groupmate and a conspecific stranger of the same sex. Apes' attention was biased toward former groupmates, indicating long-term memory for past social partners. The strength of biases toward former groupmates was not impacted by the duration apart, and our results suggest that recognition may persist for at least 26 y beyond separation. We also found significant but weak evidence that, like humans, apes may remember the quality or content of these past relationships: apes' looking biases were stronger for individuals with whom they had more positive histories of social interaction. Long-lasting social memory likely provided key foundations for the evolution of human culture and sociality as they extended across time, space, and group boundaries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura S. Lewis
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
- School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St AndrewsKY16 9AX, United Kingdom
| | - Erin G. Wessling
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
- School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St AndrewsKY16 9AX, United Kingdom
| | - Fumihiro Kano
- Kumamoto Sanctuary, Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, Kumamoto862-0911, Japan
- Center for the Advanced Study of Collective Behavior, University of Konstanz, Konstanz78457, Germany
| | - Jeroen M. G. Stevens
- Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, AntwerpBE-2000, Belgium
- Centre for Research and Conservation, Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, Antwerp2018, Belgium
| | - Josep Call
- School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St AndrewsKY16 9AX, United Kingdom
| | - Christopher Krupenye
- School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St AndrewsKY16 9AX, United Kingdom
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD21218
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4
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Tumulty JP, Miller SE, Van Belleghem SM, Weller HI, Jernigan CM, Vincent S, Staudenraus RJ, Legan AW, Polnaszek TJ, Uy FMK, Walton A, Sheehan MJ. Evidence for a selective link between cooperation and individual recognition. Curr Biol 2023; 33:5478-5487.e5. [PMID: 38065097 PMCID: PMC11074921 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.11.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2021] [Revised: 09/05/2023] [Accepted: 11/15/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023]
Abstract
The ability to recognize others is a frequent assumption of models of the evolution of cooperation. At the same time, cooperative behavior has been proposed as a selective agent favoring the evolution of individual recognition abilities. Although theory predicts that recognition and cooperation may co-evolve, data linking recognition abilities and cooperative behavior with evidence of selection are elusive. Here, we provide evidence of a selective link between individual recognition and cooperation in the paper wasp Polistes fuscatus through a combination of clinal, common garden, and population genomics analyses. We identified latitudinal clines in both rates of cooperative nesting and color pattern diversity, consistent with a selective link between recognition and cooperation. In behavioral experiments, we replicated previous results demonstrating individual recognition in cooperative and phenotypically diverse P. fuscatus from New York. In contrast, wasps from a less cooperative and phenotypically uniform Louisiana population showed no evidence of individual recognition. In a common garden experiment, groups of wasps from northern populations formed more stable and individually biased associations, indicating that recognition facilitates group stability. The strength of recent positive selection on cognition-associated loci likely to mediate individual recognition is substantially greater in northern compared with southern P. fuscatus populations. Collectively, these data suggest that individual recognition and cooperative nesting behavior have co-evolved in P. fuscatus because recognition helps stabilize social groups. This work provides evidence of a specific cognitive phenotype under selection because of social interactions, supporting the idea that social behavior can be a key driver of cognitive evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- James P Tumulty
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
| | - Sara E Miller
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA; Department of Biology, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63121, USA
| | - Steven M Van Belleghem
- Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology, Biology Department, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Hannah I Weller
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA
| | - Christopher M Jernigan
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Sierra Vincent
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Regan J Staudenraus
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Andrew W Legan
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | | | - Floria M K Uy
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA; Department of Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA
| | - Alexander Walton
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
| | - Michael J Sheehan
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
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Tumulty JP, Lange ZK, Bee MA. Identity signaling, identity reception, and the evolution of social recognition in a Neotropical frog. Evolution 2021; 76:158-170. [PMID: 34778947 DOI: 10.1111/evo.14400] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2021] [Accepted: 10/06/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Animals recognize familiar individuals to perform a variety of important social behaviors. Social recognition is often mediated by communication between signalers who produce signals that contain identity information and receivers who categorize these signals based on previous experience. We tested two hypotheses about adaptations in signalers and receivers that enable the evolution of social recognition using two species of closely related territorial poison frogs. Male golden rocket frogs (Anomaloglossus beebei) recognize the advertisement calls of conspecific territory neighbors and display a "dear enemy effect" by responding less aggressively to neighbors than strangers, whereas male Kai rocket frogs (Anomaloglossus kaiei) do not. Our results did not support the identity signaling hypothesis: both species produced advertisement calls that contain similar amounts of identity information. Our results did support the identity reception hypothesis: both species exhibited habituation of aggression to playbacks simulating the arrival of a new neighbor, but only golden rocket frogs showed renewed aggression when they subsequently heard calls from a different male. These results suggest that an ancestral mechanism of plasticity in aggression common among frogs has been modified through natural selection to be specific to calls of individual males in golden rocket frogs, enabling a social recognition system.
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Affiliation(s)
- James P Tumulty
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55108.,Current Address: Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14853
| | - Zachary K Lange
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, 76019
| | - Mark A Bee
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55108.,Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55455
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6
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Miller SE, Sheehan MJ, Reeve HK. Coevolution of cognitive abilities and identity signals in individual recognition systems. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 375:20190467. [PMID: 32420843 PMCID: PMC7331018 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0467] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Social interactions are mediated by recognition systems, meaning that the cognitive abilities or phenotypic diversity that facilitate recognition may be common targets of social selection. Recognition occurs when a receiver compares the phenotypes produced by a sender with a template. Coevolution between sender and receiver traits has been empirically reported in multiple species and sensory modalities, though the dynamics and relative exaggeration of traits from senders versus receivers have received little attention. Here, we present a coevolutionary dynamic model that examines the conditions under which senders and receivers should invest effort in facilitating individual recognition. The model predicts coevolution of sender and receiver traits, with the equilibrium investment dependent on the relative costs of signal production versus cognition. In order for recognition to evolve, initial sender and receiver trait values must be above a threshold, suggesting that recognition requires some degree of pre-existing diversity and cognitive abilities. The analysis of selection gradients demonstrates that the strength of selection on sender signals and receiver cognition is strongest when the trait values are furthest from the optima. The model provides new insights into the expected strength and dynamics of selection during the origin and elaboration of individual recognition, an important feature of social cognition in many taxa. This article is part of the theme issue 'Signal detection theory in recognition systems: from evolving models to experimental tests'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Michael J. Sheehan
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - H. Kern Reeve
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
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7
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Stowell D, Petrusková T, Šálek M, Linhart P. Automatic acoustic identification of individuals in multiple species: improving identification across recording conditions. J R Soc Interface 2020; 16:20180940. [PMID: 30966953 PMCID: PMC6505557 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2018.0940] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Many animals emit vocal sounds which, independently from the sounds' function, contain some individually distinctive signature. Thus the automatic recognition of individuals by sound is a potentially powerful tool for zoology and ecology research and practical monitoring. Here, we present a general automatic identification method that can work across multiple animal species with various levels of complexity in their communication systems. We further introduce new analysis techniques based on dataset manipulations that can evaluate the robustness and generality of a classifier. By using these techniques, we confirmed the presence of experimental confounds in situations resembling those from past studies. We introduce data manipulations that can reduce the impact of these confounds, compatible with any classifier. We suggest that assessment of confounds should become a standard part of future studies to ensure they do not report over-optimistic results. We provide annotated recordings used for analyses along with this study and we call for dataset sharing to be a common practice to enhance the development of methods and comparisons of results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan Stowell
- 1 Machine Listening Lab, Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London , London , UK
| | - Tereza Petrusková
- 2 Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University , Prague , Czech Republic
| | - Martin Šálek
- 3 Institute of Vertebrate Biology, The Czech Academy of Sciences , Brno , Czech Republic.,4 Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague , Prague , Czech Republic
| | - Pavel Linhart
- 5 Department of Behavioural Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University , Poznań , Poland
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Sheehan MJ, Reeve HK. Evolutionarily stable investments in recognition systems explain patterns of discrimination failure and success. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 375:20190465. [PMID: 32420853 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Many animals are able to perform recognition feats that astound us-such as a rodent recognizing kin it has never met. Yet in other contexts, animals appear clueless as when reed warblers rear cuckoo chicks that bear no resemblance to their own species. Failures of recognition when it would seem adaptive have been especially puzzling. Here, we present a simple tug-of-war game theory model examining how individuals should optimally invest in affecting the accuracy of discrimination between desirable and undesirable recipients. In the game, discriminating individuals (operators) and desirable and undesirable recipients (targets and mimics, respectively) can all invest effort into their own preferred outcome. We demonstrate that stable inaccurate recognition will arise when undesirable recipients have large fitness gains from inaccurate recognition relative to the pay-offs that the other two parties receive from accurate recognition. The probability of accurate recognition is often determined by just the relative pay-offs to the desirable and undesirable recipients, rather than to the discriminator. Our results provide a new lens on long-standing puzzles including a lack of nepotism in social insect colonies, tolerance of brood parasites and male birds caring for extra-pair young in their nests, which our model suggests should often lack accurate discrimination. This article is part of the theme issue 'Signal detection theory in recognition systems: from evolving models to experimental tests'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J Sheehan
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - H Kern Reeve
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
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9
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Linhart P, Osiejuk TS, Budka M, Šálek M, Špinka M, Policht R, Syrová M, Blumstein DT. Measuring individual identity information in animal signals: Overview and performance of available identity metrics. Methods Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.13238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Pavel Linhart
- Department of Behavioural Ecology Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań Poland
| | - Tomasz S. Osiejuk
- Department of Behavioural Ecology Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań Poland
| | - Michał Budka
- Department of Behavioural Ecology Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań Poland
| | - Martin Šálek
- The Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Biology Brno Czech Republic
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Prague Czech Republic
| | - Marek Špinka
- Department of Ethology, Institute of Animal Science Prague Czech Republic
- Department of Ethology and Companion Animal Science, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Prague Czech Republic
| | - Richard Policht
- Department of Ethology, Institute of Animal Science Prague Czech Republic
- Department of Game Management and Wildlife Biology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Prague Czech Republic
| | - Michaela Syrová
- Department of Ethology, Institute of Animal Science Prague Czech Republic
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Sciences University of South Bohemia České Budějovice Czech Republic
| | - Daniel T. Blumstein
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of California Los Angeles California
- Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory Crested Butte Colorado
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10
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Johnson AE, Masco C, Pruett-Jones S. Song recognition and heterospecific associations between 2 fairy-wren species (Maluridae). Behav Ecol 2018. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ary071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Allison E Johnson
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
| | - Christina Masco
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
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11
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Dogs' recognition of human selfish and generous attitudes requires little but critical experience with people. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0185696. [PMID: 29045426 PMCID: PMC5646781 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2017] [Accepted: 09/18/2017] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
There is some dispute regarding the role of experience in the development of dogs´ socio-cognitive abilities in their interaction with people. We sought to provide new evidence to this debate by comparing dogs with contrasting levels of experience with humans, in a task involving the discrimination of human generous and selfish attitudes. To this end, we compared the performance of adult family dogs against that of adult shelter dogs and puppies living in people´s homes. In training trials, the generous experimenter (G) signaled the bowl with food and allowed the dog to eat, whereas the selfish experimenter (S) also signaled the baited bowl, but she/he ate the food before the dog could have access to it. Then, subjects were allowed to freely choose between G and S in the choice test. The main finding was that adult subjects (both family and shelter dogs) developed a preference for G over S, but puppies did not. We conclude that the quality and/or quantity of everyday-contact with people did not affect the discrimination of human attitudes in the present protocol, but the amount of experience with people (in years) did matter. Finally, we discuss the relative role of domestication and ontogeny in the development of dogs´ socio-cognitive abilities.
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de Souza AR, Teixeira GVM, do Nascimento FS. Individually distinctive facial patterning without a signal value: a case of ‘missing’ social knowledge in the paper wasp Polistes versicolor? Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-017-2388-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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13
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Humphries DJ, Finch FM, Bell MBV, Ridley AR. Vocal Cues to Identity: Pied Babblers Produce Individually Distinct But Not Stable Loud Calls. Ethology 2016. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- David J. Humphries
- Department of Biological Sciences; Macquarie University; Sydney NSW Australia
- Pied Babbler Research Project, Kuruman River Reserve; Van Zylsrus South Africa
| | - Fiona M. Finch
- Pied Babbler Research Project, Kuruman River Reserve; Van Zylsrus South Africa
| | - Matthew B. V. Bell
- Pied Babbler Research Project, Kuruman River Reserve; Van Zylsrus South Africa
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology; School of Biological Sciences; University of Edinburgh; Edinburgh UK
| | - Amanda R. Ridley
- Department of Biological Sciences; Macquarie University; Sydney NSW Australia
- Pied Babbler Research Project, Kuruman River Reserve; Van Zylsrus South Africa
- DST/NRF Centre of Excellence at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute; University of Cape Town; Cape Town Western Cape South Africa
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology; School of Animal Biology; University of Western Australia; Perth WA Australia
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Blacher P, Boreggio L, Leroy C, Devienne P, Châline N, Chameron S. Specific recognition of reproductive parasite workers by nest-entrance guards in the bumble bee Bombus terrestris. Front Zool 2013; 10:74. [PMID: 24321042 PMCID: PMC3878879 DOI: 10.1186/1742-9994-10-74] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2013] [Accepted: 12/06/2013] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The impact of social parasites on their hosts’ fitness is a strong selective pressure that can lead to the evolution of adapted defence strategies. Guarding the nest to prevent the intrusion of parasites is a widespread response of host species. If absolute rejection of strangers provides the best protection against parasites, more fine-tuned strategies can prove more adaptive. Guarding is indeed costly and not all strangers constitute a real threat. That is particularly true for worker reproductive parasitism in social insects since only a fraction of non-nestmate visitors, the fertile ones, can readily engage in parasitic reproduction. Guards should thus be more restrictive towards fertile than sterile non-nestmate workers. We here tested this hypothesis by examining the reaction of nest-entrance guards towards nestmate and non-nestmate workers with varying fertility levels in the bumble bee Bombus terrestris. Because social recognition in social insects mainly relies on cuticular lipids (CLs), chemical analysis was also conducted to examine whether workers’ CLs could convey the relevant information upon which guards could base their decision. We thus aimed to determine whether an adapted defensive strategy to worker reproductive parasitism has evolved in B. terrestris colonies. Results Chemical analysis revealed that the cuticular chemical profiles of workers encode information about both their colony membership and their current fertility, therefore providing potential recognition cues for a suitable adjustment of the guards’ defensive decisions. We found that guards were similarly tolerant towards sterile non-nestmate workers than towards nestmate workers. However, as predicted, guards responded more aggressively towards fertile non-nestmates. Conclusion Our results show that B. terrestris guards discriminate non-nestmates that differ in their reproductive potential and respond more strongly to the individuals that are a greatest threat for the colony. Cuticular hydrocarbons are the probable cues underlying the specific recognition of reproductive parasites, with the specific profile of highly fertile bees eliciting the agonistic response when combined with non-colony membership information. Our study therefore provides a first piece of empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis that an adapted defensive strategy against worker reproductive parasitism exists in B. terrestris colonies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pierre Blacher
- Laboratoire d'Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée E,A, 4443, Université Paris 13, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 93430 Villetaneuse, France.
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15
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Sheehan MJ, Straub MA, Tibbetts EA. How Does Individual Recognition Evolve? Comparing Responses to Identity Information inPolistesSpecies with and Without Individual Recognition. Ethology 2013. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Michael J. Sheehan
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; University of Michigan; Ann Arbor MI USA
| | - Michael A. Straub
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; University of Michigan; Ann Arbor MI USA
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16
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven Hamblin
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, The University of New South Wales; Sydney; NSW 2052; Australia
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17
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Waltman L, van Eck NJ. A mathematical analysis of the long-run behavior of genetic algorithms for social modeling. Soft comput 2012. [DOI: 10.1007/s00500-012-0804-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
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18
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Social Group Size Predicts the Evolution of Individuality. Curr Biol 2011; 21:413-7. [PMID: 21333537 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.01.051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2010] [Revised: 12/09/2010] [Accepted: 01/20/2011] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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19
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Ishibuchi H, Ohyanagi H, Nojima Y. Evolution of Strategies With Different Representation Schemes in a Spatial Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma Game. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND AI IN GAMES 2011. [DOI: 10.1109/tciaig.2011.2109718] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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20
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Pollard KA. Making the most of alarm signals: the adaptive value of individual discrimination in an alarm context. Behav Ecol 2010. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arq179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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21
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Bartonička T, Kaňuch P, Bímová B, Bryja J. Olfactory discrimination between two cryptic species of batsPipistrellus pipistrellusandP. pygmaeus. FOLIA ZOOLOGICA 2010. [DOI: 10.25225/fozo.v59.i3.a2.2010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Tomáš Bartonička
- Department of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Peter Kaňuch
- Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., Květná 8, 603 65 Brno, Czech Republic
- Institute of Forest Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Štúrova 2, 960 53 Zvolen, Slovakia
| | - Barbora Bímová
- Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., Květná 8, 603 65 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Josef Bryja
- Department of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic
- Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., Květná 8, 603 65 Brno, Czech Republic
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Ohyanagi H, Wakamatsu Y, Nakashima Y, Nojima Y, Ishibuchi H. Evolution of cooperative behavior among heterogeneous agents with different strategy representations in an iterated prisoner’s dilemma game. ARTIFICIAL LIFE AND ROBOTICS 2009. [DOI: 10.1007/s10015-009-0698-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Sheehan MJ, Tibbetts EA. Evolution of identity signals: frequency-dependent benefits of distinctive phenotypes used for individual recognition. Evolution 2009; 63:3106-13. [PMID: 19744121 DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2009.00833.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Identifying broad-scale evolutionary processes that maintain phenotypic polymorphisms has been a major goal of modern evolutionary biology. There are numerous mechanisms, such as negative frequency-dependent selection, that may maintain polymorphisms, although it is unknown which mechanisms are prominent in nature. Traits used for individual recognition are strikingly variable and have evolved independently in numerous lineages, providing an excellent model to investigate which factors maintain ecologically relevant phenotypic polymorphisms. Theoretical models suggest that individuals may benefit by advertising their identities with distinctive, recognizable phenotypes. Here, we test the benefits of advertising one's identity with a distinctive phenotype. We manipulated the appearance of Polistes fuscatus paper wasp groups so that three individuals had the same appearance and one individual had a unique, easily recognizable appearance. We found that individuals with distinctive appearances received less aggression than individuals with nondistinctive appearances. Therefore, individuals benefit by advertising their identity with a unique phenotype. Our results provide a potential mechanism through which negative frequency-dependent selection may maintain the polymorphic identity signals in P. fuscatus. Given that recognition is important for many social interactions, selection for distinctive identity signals may be an underappreciated and widespread mechanism underlying the evolution of phenotypic polymorphisms in social taxa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J Sheehan
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 830 N. University Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
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Crowley PH, Hart MK. Evolutionary stability of egg trading and parceling in simultaneous hermaphrodites: The chalk bass revisited. J Theor Biol 2007; 246:420-9. [PMID: 17335851 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2007.01.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2006] [Revised: 01/14/2007] [Accepted: 01/19/2007] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Several species of simultaneously hermaphroditic seabasses living on coral reefs mate by alternating male and female roles with a partner. This is known as egg trading, one of the classic and most widely cited examples of social reciprocity among animals. Some of the egg-trading seabass species, including the chalk bass, Serranus tortugarum, switch mating roles repeatedly, having subdivided their clutch of eggs into parcels offered to the partner for fertilization. Here we attempt to understand these dynamics as a pair of evolutionary games, modifying some previous approaches to better reflect the biological system. We find that the trading of egg clutches is evolutionarily stable via byproduct mutualism and resistant to invasion by rare individuals that take the male role exclusively. We note why and how parceling may reflect sexual conflict between individuals in the mating pair. We estimate evolutionarily stable parcel numbers and show how they depend on parameter values. Typically, two or more sequential parcel numbers are evolutionarily stable, though the lowest of these yields the highest fitness. Assuming that parcel numbers are adjusted to local conditions, we predict that parcel numbers in nature are inversely related both to mating group density (except at low density) and predation risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip H Crowley
- Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0225, USA.
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Tibbetts EA. Complex social behaviour can select for variability in visual features: a case study in Polistes wasps. Proc Biol Sci 2004; 271:1955-60. [PMID: 15347520 PMCID: PMC1691814 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2004.2784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to recognize individuals is common in animals; however, we know little about why the phenotypic variability necessary for individual recognition has evolved in some animals but not others. One possibility is that natural selection favours variability in some social contexts but not in others. Polistes fuscatus wasps have variable facial and abdominal markings used for individual recognition within their complex societies. Here, I explore whether social behaviour can select for variability by examining the relationship between social behaviour and variability in visual features (marking variability) across social wasp taxa. Analysis using a concentrated changes test demonstrates that marking variability is significantly associated with nesting strategy. Species with flexible nest-founding strategies have highly variable markings, whereas species without flexible nest-founding strategies have low marking variability. These results suggest that: (i) individual recognition may be widespread in the social wasps, and (ii) natural selection may play a role in the origin and maintenance of the variable distinctive markings. Theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that species with flexible nesting strategies have reproductive transactions, a type of complex social behaviour predicted to require individual recognition. Therefore, the reproductive transactions of flexible species may select for highly variable individuals who are easy to identify as individuals. Further, selection for distinctiveness may provide an alternative explanation for the evolution of phenotypic diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth A Tibbetts
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
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Nunn CL, Deaner RO. Patterns of participation and free riding in territorial conflicts among ringtailed lemurs (Lemur catta). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2004. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-004-0830-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Origins of behavioural variability: categorical and discriminative assessment in serial contests. Anim Behav 2003. [DOI: 10.1006/anbe.2003.2259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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Safi K, Kerth G. Secretions of the interaural gland contain information about individuality and colony membership in the Bechstein's bat. Anim Behav 2003. [DOI: 10.1006/anbe.2003.2067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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Avilés L, Abbot P, Cutter AD. Population Ecology, Nonlinear Dynamics, and Social Evolution. I. Associations among Nonrelatives. Am Nat 2002; 159:115-27. [PMID: 18707408 DOI: 10.1086/324792] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Leticia Avilés
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
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Promoting cooperation using `kin' biased conditional strategy in the iterated prisoner's dilemma game. Inf Sci (N Y) 2001. [DOI: 10.1016/s0020-0255(01)00082-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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Abstract
The hawk-dove game has proved to be an important tool for understanding the role of aggression in social interactions. Here, the game is presented in a more general form (GHD) to facilitate analyses of interactions between individuals that may differ in "size", where size is interpreted as a surrogate for resource holding power. Three different situations are considered, based on the availability and use of information that interacting individuals have about their sizes: the classical symmetric case, in which no information about sizes is used, the asymmetric case, in which the individuals know their relative sizes and thus their chances of prevailing in combat, and a mixed-symmetry case, in which each individual only knows its own size (or only knows its opponent's size). I describe and use some recently developed methods for multitype games-evolutionary games involving two or more categories of players. With these methods and others, the evolutionarily stable strategies (ESSs) that emerge for the three different cases are identified and compared. A proof of the form and uniqueness of the ESS for the mixed-symmetry case is presented. In this situation, one size category at most can play a mixed strategy; larger individuals are aggressive and smaller individuals are not. As the number of size categories approaches infinity and the size distribution becomes continuous, there is a threshold size, above which all individuals are aggressive, and below which they are not.
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Affiliation(s)
- P H Crowley
- Center for Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior and T. H. Morgan School of Biological Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0225, USA
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Abstract
The iterated Prisoner's Dilemma reflects the essence of repeated cooperative interactions with selfish incentives. However, the classical form of this game assumes that individuals either cooperate or defect, whereas in practice different degrees of cooperation are usually possible. To overcome this limitation, we present a model of alternating cooperative trade in which individuals controlled the costs they incurred in benefiting their partners. Since the range of possible strategies is enormous, competitively successful solutions were identified using a genetic algorithm, a powerful search technique in which good performers are iteratively selected and recombined from an initial "strategy soup". Beginning with a population of asocial individuals, altruistic behaviour readily emerged. Like the pre-defined strategy of "Raise-the-Stakes", the emerging strategies evolved protection from cheats by investing relatively little in strangers and subsequently responding quantitatively to a partner's altruism. Unlike "Raise-the-Stakes", they began trading relations at intermediate levels and, when the benefit-to-cost ratio of cooperation was relatively low, mean investment was considerably below the maximum level. Our approach is novel in allowing us to predict not just whether cooperation will occur, but how cooperative individuals will be, in relation to factors such as the number of rounds and the cost effectiveness of cooperative trade.
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Affiliation(s)
- T N Sherratt
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, U.K.
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Abstract
We present a general model for the Prisoner's Dilemma in which variable degrees of cooperation are possible, and payoffs are scaled accordingly. We describe a continuous strategy space, and divide this space into strategy families. We derive the payoff function for these families analytically, and study the evolutionary outcome when a wide range of strategies play against each other. Our results show that the initial degree of cooperation offered by a strategy is a decisive factor for evolutionary robustness: the most successful strategies in our model offer full cooperation as an initial move, but thereafter cooperate fully only if their opponent does the same. These strategies gradually raise the stakes when playing a strategy which is initially reticent to cooperate, but differ from the strategies predicted by other continuous models in that they are not only generous, but are also consistently optimistic and uncompromising.
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Affiliation(s)
- L M Wahl
- Institute for Advanced Study, Olden Lane, Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA
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Abstract
To better understand the evolutionary dynamics of cooperative strategies and their behavioral components in populations subjected to individual selection, a new classifier-system model (EvA) was developed. In EvA, strategies are encoded as algorithms composed of a fixed number of rules relating behavior remembered from the recent past to the present action to be taken. Each algorithm is the genotype of an individual within the population, and these individuals play the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma game against each other to determine their relative contributions to the next generation. The rules are hierarchical, with more specific rules, when they apply, overriding more general rules. Maximal mutual cooperation was obtained when interaction sequences for each pair of individuals playing the game were long, when only the immediately preceeding plays in the game were remembered, and when the algorithms consisted of an intermediate number of rules (20-40). Under other conditions, mutual cooperation was reduced--even becoming less frequent than would be expected if behavior were completely random, with very few rules per algorithm. The algorithms that evolved could sometimes be recognized as Tit-For-Tat, Simpleton, or other well-known strategies; but when memory of several previous events was invoked by algorithms based on a substantial number of rules, the resulting strategies were considerably more complex. This approach shows considerable promise for providing a much deeper understanding of how cooperation may evolve in nature. Moreover, classifier-system models could prove to be broadly useful for addressing many optimization questions in biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- P H Crowley
- Center for Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40506-0225, USA.
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Abstract
The iterated Prisoner's Dilemma has become the standard model for the evolution of cooperative behavior within a community of egoistic agents, frequently cited for implications in both sociology and biology. Due primarily to the work of Axelrod (1980a, 1980b, 1984, 1985), a strategy of tit for tat (TFT) has established a reputation as being particularly robust. Nowak and Sigmund (1992) have shown, however, that in a world of stochastic error or imperfect communication, it is not TFT that finally triumphs in an ecological model based on population percentages (Axelrod and Hamilton 1981), but 'generous tit for tat' (GTFT), which repays cooperation with a probability of cooperation approaching 1 but forgives defection with a probability of 1/3. In this paper, we consider a spatialized instantiation of the stochastic Prisoner's Dilemma, using two-dimensional cellular automata (Wolfram, 1984, 1986; Gutowitz, 1990) to model the spatial dynamics of populations of competing strategies. The surprising result is that in the spatial model it is not GTFT but still more generous strategies that are favored. The optimal strategy within this spatial ecology appears to be a form of 'bending over backwards', which returns cooperation for defection with a probability of 2/3--a rate twice as generous as GTFT.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Grim
- Department of Philosophy, SUNY at Stony Brook 11794, USA
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