Social modulation of individual preferences in cockroaches
Yannick Günzel,
Jaclyn McCollum,
Marco Paoli,
C. Giovanni Galizia,
Inga Petelski,
Einat Couzin-Fuchs
Affiliations
Yannick Günzel
Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany; Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany; Department of Collective Behaviour, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
Jaclyn McCollum
Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany
Marco Paoli
Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany; CNRS, Research Centre for Animal Cognition, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
C. Giovanni Galizia
Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany; Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
Inga Petelski
Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany; Department of Collective Behaviour, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
Einat Couzin-Fuchs
Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany; Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany; Department of Collective Behaviour, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78464 Konstanz, Germany; Corresponding author
Summary: In social species, decision-making is both influenced by, and in turn influences, the social context. This reciprocal feedback introduces coupling across scales, from the neural basis of sensing, to individual and collective decision-making. Here, we adopt an integrative approach investigating decision-making in dynamical social contexts. When choosing shelters, isolated cockroaches prefer vanillin-scented (food-associated) shelters over unscented ones, yet in groups, this preference is inverted. We demonstrate that this inversion can be replicated by replacing the full social context with social odors: presented alone food and social odors are attractive, yet when presented as a mixture they are avoided. Via antennal lobe calcium imaging, we show that neural activity in vanillin-responsive regions reduces as social odor concentration increases. Thus, we suggest that the mixture is evaluated as a distinct olfactory object with opposite valence, providing a mechanism that would naturally result in individuals avoiding what they perceive as recently exploited resources.
