Communicative roots of complex sociality and cognition: neuropsychological mechanisms underpinning the processing of social information

Author:

Roberts Sam G. B.1ORCID,Dunbar Robin I. M.2ORCID,Roberts Anna I.3ORCID

Affiliation:

1. School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK

2. Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK

3. Institute of Human Biology and Evolution, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland

Abstract

Primate social bonds are described as being especially complex in their nature, and primates have unusually large brains for their body size compared to other mammals. Communication in primates has attracted considerable attention because of the important role it plays in social bonding. It has been proposed that differentiated social relationships are cognitively complex because primates need to continuously update their knowledge about different types of social bonds. Therefore, primates infer whether an opportunity for social interaction is rewarding (valuable to individual goals) based on their knowledge of the social relationships of the interactants. However, exposure to distraction and stress has detrimental effects on the dopaminergic system, suggesting that understanding social relationships as rewarding is affected in these conditions. This paper proposes that complex communication evolved to augment the capacity to form social relationships during stress through flexibly modifying intentionality in communication (audience checking, response waiting and elaboration). Intentional communication may upregulate dopamine dynamics to allow recognition that an interaction is rewarding during stress. By examining these associations between complexity of communication and stress, we provide new insights into the cognitive skills involved in forming social bonds in primates and the evolution of communication systems in both primates and humans. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Cognition, communication and social bonds in primates’.

Funder

Narodowe Centrum Nauki

Publisher

The Royal Society

Subject

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Cited by 3 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

1. Pragmatic grammar in genus homo;Biolinguistics;2023-09-06

2. Social behavior and communication grand challenges – Frontiers in Ethology;Frontiers in Ethology;2022-12-13

3. Communicative roots of complex sociality and cognition: preface to the theme issue;Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences;2022-08-08

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