Abstract (may include machine translation)
This chapter provides a comparative perspective on coordination, exploring whether common solutions to particular coordination problems-such as moving in a group, distributing tasks, coordinating actions in time, and transmitting information-exist across different species. The study of coordination tries to understand how individuals in a cooperative or neutral context adjust their actions to each other in time and space. Traveling with a large number of conspecifics requires individuals to move in a manner appropriate to maintaining group cohesion whilst avoiding collision. In group-living species, efficient foraging, hunting, or territory protection is often best achieved when tasks are divided between individuals. The chapter considers the mechanisms underlying the distribution of tasks and the integration of individual contributions. Life in social groups poses behavioral and cognitive challenges-challenges which, in turn, have shaped the evolution of group-living individuals. Already, investigating recently discovered mechanisms of human joint action in other species is enhancing understanding of how these mechanisms evolved.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Evolutionary Neuroscience |
Publisher | Wiley-Blackwell |
Pages | 478-494 |
Number of pages | 17 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781118316757 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781119994695 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 23 Dec 2016 |
Keywords
- Behavioral challenges
- Cognitive challenges
- Foraging
- Group-living individuals
- Human joint action
- Hunting
- Social groups
- Territory protection