A Neuroethological Study of Free-Riding

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K13267
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 10010:Social psychology-related
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Ogura Yukiko 東京大学, 大学院情報理工学系研究科, 特任研究員 (00794728)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: producer-scrounger game / social foraging behavior / motion tracking / SCR

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In a producer-scrounger game situation, both types of players can have an advantage in adopting a tactic to immediately shift toward a "small reward with low risk”. In this study, I conducted behavioral experiments and physiological measurements on human participants, with the aim of elucidating the physiological basis of the immediate "small reward with low risk” behavior. When presented with a movie of a co-eater, participants reached for food more frequently and the physiological indices also changed. Time-series analysis suggested that a bidirectional flow of information between "movie → participant" and "participant → movie". Participants may have shifted to adaptive behavioral tactics in response to the threat of scrounging.

Free Research Field

神経行動学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

「ただ乗り行動」は、生産者-略奪者ゲームの下で略奪者戦術を採ることと捉えられる。生産者-略奪者ゲームは行動生態学分野において様々に分析がなされてきたが、戦術シフトが生じる神経生物学的基盤は明らかになっていない。本研究では共食者の下で戦術がシフトする行動に着目し、行動と生理指標を同時計測する実験系を確立した。今後、神経・整理基盤を明らかにする上での基礎的な知見となることが期待される。