Social Learning: Evolution, Ecology and Mechanisms

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Social learning, learning from others, has been demonstrated to be important to individual success in many species, ranging from nest-site selection in birds to teaching in humans. By taking advantage of the discoveries of others, animals can rapidly adjust to changing environments, without the costs and risks of individual exploration. This can allow individuals to exploit new opportunities and enter new habitats, as well as adapt to human-impacted environments. Indeed, influential but largely untested hypotheses have suggested that social learning can impact many ecological and evolutionary processes. However, we know little about how social learning evolves or its underlying neural processing. For example, it remains unresolved whether social learning typically rests upon dedicated, specialized cognitive processes that can develop and evolve independently from other learning processes, or if instead social learning is simply an expression of the processes that underlie individual learning. This is a significant gap, because the answer will determine both the taxonomic distribution of social learning and the circumstances under which it is advantageous. ******Here, I propose steps in an ambitious long-term research program that uses studies of behaviour, neuroscience and selection to link neurocognitive mechanisms, development and evolution. We intend to determine whether specialized mechanisms are involved in social learning, their impact, and to uncover the factors favouring their evolution. Evolutionary questions require specialized approaches, and so we will study the rapidly-breeding guppy, a robust social learner, and examine evolution in the laboratory and by comparative study in the wild. Adopting approaches inspired by evolutionary developmental biology, we will use animal training and artificial selection to determine whether social learning can develop and evolve independently from other processes. We combine this work with extensive investigation of neural and hormonal processes hypothesized to underpin social learning, using a variety of modern techniques, focusing on the oxytocin family of neuropeptides and the stress axis. This fundamental and potentially transformative research has varied applications that are highly relevant to Canada, from understanding the mechanisms underlying deficits in human social cognition to animal conservation and improving the success of fisheries. Moreover, the work will provide world-class training opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers in multiple disciplines.