Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Testard, Camille
• Tremblay, Sébastien
• Parodi, Felipe
• DiTullio, Ron W
• Acevedo-Ithier, Arianna
• Gardiner, Kristin L
• Kording, Konrad
• Platt, Michael L

Titel

Neural signatures of natural behaviour in socializing macaques

Ist Teil von

• Nature (London), 2024-04, Vol.628 (8007), p.381-390

Ort / Verlag

England: Nature Publishing Group

Erscheinungsjahr

2024

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Our understanding of the neurobiology of primate behaviour largely derives from artificial tasks in highly controlled laboratory settings, overlooking most natural behaviours that primate brains evolved to produce . How primates navigate the multidimensional social relationships that structure daily life and shape survival and reproductive success remains largely unclear at the single-neuron level. Here we combine ethological analysis, computer vision and wireless recording technologies to identify neural signatures of natural behaviour in unrestrained, socially interacting pairs of rhesus macaques. Single-neuron and population activity in the prefrontal and temporal cortex robustly encoded 24 species-typical behaviours, as well as social context. Male-female partners demonstrated near-perfect reciprocity in grooming, a key behavioural mechanism supporting friendships and alliances , and neural activity maintained a running account of these social investments. Confronted with an aggressive intruder, behavioural and neural population responses reflected empathy and were buffered by the presence of a partner. Our findings reveal a highly distributed neurophysiological ledger of social dynamics, a potential computational foundation supporting communal life in primate societies, including our own.