Social Learning Strategies And Predation Risk: Minnows Copy Only When Using Private Information Would Be Costly

Main Category: Biology / Biochemistry
Also Included In: Veterinary
Article Date: 27 Aug 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Animals that live in changeable environments need information about their surroundings if they are to operate efficiently. They can gather information by exploring their surroundings themselves.

This yields accurate information, but uses time and energy and can expose the animal to its predators. Alternatively they can gather 'cheap' information by copying others, but at the risk of gathering incorrect or outdated knowledge.

A prominent psychological theory predicts that people should gather private information when the danger associated with doing so is low, but that they should copy others when these risks are high. Remarkably, our studies show that fish also follow this rule.

These results give us a deeper understanding of the evolution of social behaviours, such as copying others, and reveal that the learning abilities of fish are more sophisticated than previously thought.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Proceedings B is the Royal Society's flagship biological research journal, dedicated to the rapid publication and broad dissemination of high-quality research papers, reviews and comment and reply papers. The scope of journal is diverse and is especially strong in organismal biology.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences