Animals "peer-pressured" into reacting to danger

Freezing is a common reaction to fear, experienced by many animals. But how do these animals learn to identify this behaviour with risky situations? A hit-and-miss approach can have deadly consequences, since a simple mistake can lead, for example, to a close encounter with a predator. ERC-funded neuroscientist Marta Moita, from the Fundação Anna Sommer Champalimaud E Dr Carlos Montez Champalimaud, suggests that social skills may have something to do with this. Dr Moita and her team use a creative approach of different behavioural, neurobiological and pharmacological techniques at the forefront of experimental science. Their aim is to understand how dynamics within a group and social environment influence the way in which the brain learns to associate certain reactions to danger, in rats and flies. 

Freezing in the face of danger

Dr Moita's work shows that rats associate silence and lack of movement in other members of their species to scary situations. A lively rat is unlikely to be under threat, so the coast is clear for the rest of the group. Is this knowledge innate?  The researchers' experiments suggest the contrary, since "naïve" rats that have not lived through a shock, do not recognise silence as a social cue. "Experienced" animals, on the other hand, use this response not only as a defence mechanism, but also to signal a danger to others. Dr Moita hypothesises that the root of this phenomenon could be found in the amygdala, a part of the brain highly associated with learning and memory.

The sociality of flies

Many animals experience similar conditioning from their group. Social behaviours, such as flocking in birds and shoaling in fish, are good examples. The beautiful and complicated patterns created by the unison movements of hundreds of different individuals are dependent on each animal's ability to read signals, such as danger, and react in the socially appropriate way. Dr Moita aims to explore what structures in the brain influence these behaviours, by investigating another social group: fruit flies. The results of these studies may impact the understanding we have of our own brains, and shed light on diseases and conditions where social behaviour is impaired. "Having a better understanding of the neurological origins of these conditions," says Dr Moita "will change the way we treat people who have them."