Editorial: Neuroethology of the colonial mind: Ecological and evolutionary context of social brains

Overview & Synopsis

Collective behavior relies on interactions among individuals who have neural substrates supporting the exchange and processing of social information (Gordon, 2021). The collective acquisition and processing of information in these advanced societies suggest that individuals form a "colonial mind." Over the past decades, studies of individual and collective cognition have received a lot of attention (Couzin, 2009; Simons and Tibbetts, 2019). However, little is known about how the two systems interact: individual cognitive abilities are not correlated to collective cognitive abilities (Feinerman and Korman, 2017). Addressing this question requires a better understanding of the mechanisms of both individual and collective cognition. For this Research Topic, we brought together researchers in neuroscience and collective animal behavior to further examine the colonial mind. It is now clear that collective behavior can yield fitness benefits to animals (Krause et al., 2010). For instance, grouped animals often respond faster and more accurately to changes in environmental or social circumstances than isolated conspecifics (Sumpter, 2010). Through the genetic control of Drosophila behavior, Ferreira et al. showed how social information influences individual reactions in threatening situations. This study indicates that collective cognition can benefit individuals across the animal kingdom, even in loosely social species. By contrast, the mechanisms underlying the transition from solitary to group living are much less understood. Several physiological changes may have contributed to division of labor in highly social species. Sasaki et al. provide a comparative perspective to understand how neurotransmitters and hormones evolved to support eusociality. The authors compiled literature from eusocial and non-social Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution frontiersin.org