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Leca JB. Towards a three-level neo-Tinbergenian approach to object play: Structure, causes and consequences of a behavioral puzzle. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 152:105290. [PMID: 37348665 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2023] [Revised: 05/11/2023] [Accepted: 06/19/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023]
Abstract
My main goal in this paper is to propose a reformulation of foundational models in behavioral research, including Tinbergen's (1963) well-known four levels of analysis (namely, ontogenetic, mechanistic, functional, and evolutionary questions) and Mayr's (1961) dichotomy between proximate and ultimate causations. After critically evaluating these influential but problematic models, I present a three-level neo-Tinbergenian approach to behavior that considers the triadic integration of behavioral causes, structure, and consequences along a single temporal continuum. I then argue that object-directed play is a good candidate behavior to apply this new paradigm by presenting significant examples of the combined analysis of at least two of these three levels. Finally, I show how stone handling, a form of culturally-transmitted object play in macaques, is perfectly amenable to this unified three-level explanatory framework. My proposed approach fits recent theoretical and empirical advances in behavioral biology, has a heuristic value, and may provide numerous benefits to a range of behavioral scientists.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Baptiste Leca
- Department of Psychology, University of Lethbridge, AB, Canada; School of Natural and Engineering Sciences National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India.
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Seebacher F, Krause J. Physiological mechanisms underlying animal social behaviour. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2018; 372:rstb.2016.0231. [PMID: 28673909 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2016.0231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/28/2017] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Many species of animal live in groups, and the group represents the organizational level within which ecological and evolutionary processes occur. Understanding these processes, therefore, relies on knowledge of the mechanisms that permit or constrain group formation. We suggest that physiological capacities and differences in physiology between individuals modify fission-fusion dynamics. Differences between individuals in locomotor capacity and metabolism may lead to fission of groups and sorting of individuals into groups with similar physiological phenotypes. Environmental impacts such as hypoxia can influence maximum group sizes and structure in fish schools by altering access to oxygenated water. The nutritional environment determines group cohesion, and the increase in information collected by the group means that individuals should rely more on social information and form more cohesive groups in uncertain environments. Changing environmental contexts require rapid responses by individuals to maintain group coordination, which are mediated by neuroendocrine signalling systems such as nonapeptides and steroid hormones. Brain processing capacity may constrain social complexity by limiting information processing. Failure to evaluate socially relevant information correctly limits social interactions, which is seen, for example, in autism. Hence, functioning of a group relies to a large extent on the perception and appropriate processing of signals from conspecifics. Many if not all physiological systems are mechanistically linked, and therefore have synergistic effects on social behaviour. A challenge for the future lies in understanding these interactive effects, which will improve understanding of group dynamics, particularly in changing environments.This article is part of the themed issue 'Physiological determinants of social behaviour in animals'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frank Seebacher
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences A08, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia
| | - Jens Krause
- Department of Biology and Ecology of Fishes, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Müggelseedamm 310, 12587 Berlin, Germany.,Faculty of Life Sciences Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstrasse 42, 10115 Berlin, Germany
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Nogueira-Filho SL, Lopes PC, Ferreira DN, Nogueira SS. Flexibility in the social behavior of captive female capybaras (Mammalia, Rodentia). Behav Processes 2017; 142:29-32. [DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2017.05.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2016] [Revised: 04/25/2017] [Accepted: 05/23/2017] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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Boomsma JJ. Fifty years of illumination about the natural levels of adaptation. Curr Biol 2016; 26:R1250-R1255. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.11.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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Mutual influences between child emotion regulation and parent–child reciprocity support development across the first 10 years of life: Implications for developmental psychopathology. Dev Psychopathol 2015; 27:1007-23. [DOI: 10.1017/s0954579415000656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 99] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
AbstractElucidating the mechanisms by which infant birth conditions shape development across lengthy periods is critical for understanding typical and pathological development and for targeted early interventions. This study examined how newborns' regulatory capacities impact 10-year outcomes via the bidirectional influences of child emotion regulation (ER) and reciprocal parenting across early development. Guided by dynamic systems theory, 125 infants were tested at seven time points: birth, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months and 5 and 10 years. Initial regulatory conditions were measured by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA; vagal tone) and neurobehavioral regulation (Brazelton, 1973) at birth. At each assessment between 3 months and 5 years, infant ER was microcoded from age-appropriate paradigms and mother–child reciprocity observed during social interactions. Four regulation-related outcomes were measured at 10 years: child RSA, empathy measured by mother–child conflict discussion and a lab paradigm, accident proneness, and behavior problems. An autoregressive cross-lagged structural model indicated that infant birth conditions impacted 10-year outcomes via three mechanisms. First, child ER and reciprocal parenting were individually stable across development and were each predicted by regulatory birth conditions, describing gradual maturation of ER and reciprocity over time. Second, better ER skills at one time point were related to greater reciprocity at the next time point and vice versa, and these cross-time effects defined a field of individual-context mutual influences that mediated the links between neonatal RSA and 10-year outcomes. Third, direct associations emerged between neonatal regulation and outcome, suggesting that birth conditions may establish a neurobiological milieu that promotes a more mature and resilient system. These mechanisms describe distinct “attractor” states that constrain the system's future options, emphasize the importance of defining behavior-based phenotypes of heterotypic continuity, and suggest that infants may shape their development by initiating unique cascades of individual-context bidirectional effects.
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Kappeler PM, Fichtel C. Eco-evo-devo of the lemur syndrome: did adaptive behavioral plasticity get canalized in a large primate radiation? Front Zool 2015; 12 Suppl 1:S15. [PMID: 26816515 PMCID: PMC4722368 DOI: 10.1186/1742-9994-12-s1-s15] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Comprehensive explanations of behavioral adaptations rarely invoke all levels famously admonished by Niko Tinbergen. The role of developmental processes and plasticity, in particular, has often been neglected. In this paper, we combine ecological, physiological and developmental perspectives in developing a hypothesis to account for the evolution of 'the lemur syndrome', a combination of reduced sexual dimorphism, even adult sex ratios, female dominance and mild genital masculinization characterizing group-living species in two families of Malagasy primates. RESULTS We review the different components of the lemur syndrome and compare it with similar adaptations reported for other mammals. We find support for the assertion that the lemur syndrome represents a unique set of integrated behavioral, demographic and morphological traits. We combine existing hypotheses about underlying adaptive function and proximate causation by adding a potential developmental mechanism linking maternal stress and filial masculinization, and outline an evolutionary scenario for its canalization. CONCLUSIONS We propose a new hypothesis linking ecological, physiological, developmental and evolutionary processes to adumbrate a comprehensive explanation for the evolution of the lemur syndrome, whose assumptions and predictions can guide diverse future research on lemurs. This hypothesis should also encourage students of other behavioral phenomena to consider the potential role of developmental plasticity in evolutionary innovation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter M Kappeler
- Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Unit, German Primate Center, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Claudia Fichtel
- Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Unit, German Primate Center, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
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McKay R, Whitehouse H. Religion and morality. Psychol Bull 2015; 141:447-73. [PMID: 25528346 PMCID: PMC4345965 DOI: 10.1037/a0038455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 143] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2012] [Revised: 08/30/2014] [Accepted: 10/21/2014] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The relationship between religion and morality has long been hotly debated. Does religion make us more moral? Is it necessary for morality? Do moral inclinations emerge independently of religious intuitions? These debates, which nowadays rumble on in scientific journals as well as in public life, have frequently been marred by a series of conceptual confusions and limitations. Many scientific investigations have failed to decompose "religion" and "morality" into theoretically grounded elements; have adopted parochial conceptions of key concepts-in particular, sanitized conceptions of "prosocial" behavior; and have neglected to consider the complex interplay between cognition and culture. We argue that to make progress, the categories "religion" and "morality" must be fractionated into a set of biologically and psychologically cogent traits, revealing the cognitive foundations that shape and constrain relevant cultural variants. We adopt this fractionating strategy, setting out an encompassing evolutionary framework within which to situate and evaluate relevant evidence. Our goals are twofold: to produce a detailed picture of the current state of the field, and to provide a road map for future research on the relationship between religion and morality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan McKay
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders
| | - Harvey Whitehouse
- Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, School of Anthropology, University of Oxford
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Hofmann HA, Beery AK, Blumstein DT, Couzin ID, Earley RL, Hayes LD, Hurd PL, Lacey EA, Phelps SM, Solomon NG, Taborsky M, Young LJ, Rubenstein DR. An evolutionary framework for studying mechanisms of social behavior. Trends Ecol Evol 2014; 29:581-9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2014.07.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 139] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2013] [Revised: 07/13/2014] [Accepted: 07/14/2014] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
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Abraham E, Hendler T, Shapira-Lichter I, Kanat-Maymon Y, Zagoory-Sharon O, Feldman R. Father's brain is sensitive to childcare experiences. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2014; 111:9792-7. [PMID: 24912146 PMCID: PMC4103311 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1402569111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 158] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Although contemporary socio-cultural changes dramatically increased fathers' involvement in childrearing, little is known about the brain basis of human fatherhood, its comparability with the maternal brain, and its sensitivity to caregiving experiences. We measured parental brain response to infant stimuli using functional MRI, oxytocin, and parenting behavior in three groups of parents (n = 89) raising their firstborn infant: heterosexual primary-caregiving mothers (PC-Mothers), heterosexual secondary-caregiving fathers (SC-Fathers), and primary-caregiving homosexual fathers (PC-Fathers) rearing infants without maternal involvement. Results revealed that parenting implemented a global "parental caregiving" neural network, mainly consistent across parents, which integrated functioning of two systems: the emotional processing network including subcortical and paralimbic structures associated with vigilance, salience, reward, and motivation, and mentalizing network involving frontopolar-medial-prefrontal and temporo-parietal circuits implicated in social understanding and cognitive empathy. These networks work in concert to imbue infant care with emotional salience, attune with the infant state, and plan adequate parenting. PC-Mothers showed greater activation in emotion processing structures, correlated with oxytocin and parent-infant synchrony, whereas SC-Fathers displayed greater activation in cortical circuits, associated with oxytocin and parenting. PC-Fathers exhibited high amygdala activation similar to PC-Mothers, alongside high activation of superior temporal sulcus (STS) comparable to SC-Fathers, and functional connectivity between amygdala and STS. Among all fathers, time spent in direct childcare was linked with the degree of amygdala-STS connectivity. Findings underscore the common neural basis of maternal and paternal care, chart brain-hormone-behavior pathways that support parenthood, and specify mechanisms of brain malleability with caregiving experiences in human fathers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eyal Abraham
- Department of Psychology and the Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel
| | - Talma Hendler
- Functional Brain Center, Wohl Institute of Advanced Imaging, andSchool of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel; and
| | - Irit Shapira-Lichter
- Functional Brain Center, Wohl Institute of Advanced Imaging, andFunctional Neurosurgery Unit, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Center, Tel Aviv 64239, Israel
| | | | - Orna Zagoory-Sharon
- Department of Psychology and the Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel
| | - Ruth Feldman
- Department of Psychology and the Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel;
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Calisi RM. An integrative overview of the role of gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone in behavior: applying Tinbergen's four questions. Gen Comp Endocrinol 2014; 203:95-105. [PMID: 24704003 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2014.03.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2013] [Revised: 03/12/2014] [Accepted: 03/14/2014] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
The integration of various fields of investigation is of key importance to fully comprehending endocrine function. Here, I enact the theoretical framework of Nikolaas Tinbergen's four questions for understanding behavior to help bridge the wide gap that exists between our relatively reductionist molecular knowledge of a particular neurohormone, gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH), and its place in animal behavior. Hypothalamic GnIH, upon its discovery in 2000, was so named because of its inhibitory effect on the release of the gonadotropins, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), from the pituitary. Because gonadotropins are necessary for reproduction, this finding stimulated questions about the functional significance of GnIH in reproduction and sexual behavior. After over a decade of research, invaluable knowledge has been gained regarding the mechanistic attributes of GnIH (mammalian homolog, RFamide-related peptide (RFRP)) in a variety of vertebrate species. However, many questions remain regarding the effect of the environment on GnIH and the subsequent effects of GnIH on behavior. I review the role of GnIH in shaping behavior using the framework of Tinbergen's four questions of mechanism, ontogeny, function and phylogeny. The studies I review were conducted in various species of mammals, birds, and in one species of fish. Because GnIH can play a role in mediating behaviors such as those important for reproduction, sociality, feeding, and the stress response in a variety of species, an integrative approach to the study of GnIH will help provide a multipronged schema for answering questions of GnIH function. By using the framework highlighted by Tinbergen's four questions, we will deepen and enhance our knowledge of the role of hormones in behavior from the point of view of the mechanisms involved.
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Bateson P, Laland KN. Tinbergen's four questions: an appreciation and an update. Trends Ecol Evol 2013; 28:712-8. [PMID: 24144467 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2013.09.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 170] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2013] [Revised: 09/16/2013] [Accepted: 09/20/2013] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
This year is the 50th anniversary of Tinbergen's (1963) article 'On aims and methods of ethology', where he first outlined the four 'major problems of biology'. The classification of the four problems, or questions, is one of Tinbergen's most enduring legacies, and it remains as valuable today as 50 years ago in highlighting the value of a comprehensive, multifaceted understanding of a characteristic, with answers to each question providing complementary insights. Nonetheless, much has changed in the intervening years, and new data call for a more nuanced application of Tinbergen's framework. The anniversary would seem a suitable opportunity to reflect on the four questions and evaluate the scientific work that they encourage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Bateson
- Subdepartment of Animal Behaviour, University of Cambridge, Madingley, Cambridge, CB23 8AA, UK
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Kappeler PM, Barrett L, Blumstein DT, Clutton-Brock TH. Constraints and flexibility in mammalian social behaviour: introduction and synthesis. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2013; 368:20120337. [PMID: 23569286 PMCID: PMC3638441 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2012.0337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 111] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
This paper introduces a Theme Issue presenting the latest developments in research on the interplay between flexibility and constraint in social behaviour, using comparative datasets, long-term field studies and experimental data from both field and laboratory studies of mammals. We first explain our focus on mammals and outline the main components of their social systems, focusing on variation within- and among-species in numerous aspects of social organization, mating system and social structure. We then review the current state of primarily ultimate explanations of this diversity in social behaviour. We approach the question of how and why the balance between behavioural flexibility and continuity is achieved by discussing the genetic, developmental, ecological and social constraints on hypothetically unlimited behavioural flexibility. We introduce the other contributions to this Theme Issue against this background and conclude that constraints are often crucial to the evolution and expression of behavioural flexibility. In exploring these issues, the enduring relevance of Tinbergen's seminal paper 'On aims and methods in ethology', with its advocacy of an integrative, four-pronged approach to studying behaviour becomes apparent: an exceptionally fitting tribute on the 50th anniversary of its publication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter M Kappeler
- Department of Sociobiology/Anthropology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
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Holekamp KE, Swanson EM, Van Meter PE. Developmental constraints on behavioural flexibility. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2013; 368:20120350. [PMID: 23569298 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2012.0350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
We suggest that variation in mammalian behavioural flexibility not accounted for by current socioecological models may be explained in part by developmental constraints. From our own work, we provide examples of constraints affecting variation in behavioural flexibility, not only among individuals, but also among species and higher taxonomic units. We first implicate organizational maternal effects of androgens in shaping individual differences in aggressive behaviour emitted by female spotted hyaenas throughout the lifespan. We then compare carnivores and primates with respect to their locomotor and craniofacial adaptations. We inquire whether antagonistic selection pressures on the skull might impose differential functional constraints on evolvability of skulls and brains in these two orders, thus ultimately affecting behavioural flexibility in each group. We suggest that, even when carnivores and primates would theoretically benefit from the same adaptations with respect to behavioural flexibility, carnivores may nevertheless exhibit less behavioural flexibility than primates because of constraints imposed by past adaptations in the morphology of the limbs and skull. Phylogenetic analysis consistent with this idea suggests greater evolutionary lability in relative brain size within families of primates than carnivores. Thus, consideration of developmental constraints may help elucidate variation in mammalian behavioural flexibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kay E Holekamp
- Department of Zoology, Michigan State University, 203 Natural Sciences, MI 48824, USA.
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