Project description
Understanding prosocial behaviour development in birds
Recent studies indicate that corvids share similar behavioural and cognitive skills with mammals, suggesting a convergent evolution of socio-cognitive abilities. The EU-funded PHYSPROSOC project aims to understand the development of prosocial behaviours and their underlying physiological mechanisms in two avian species: Carrion Crows and Ring Doves. The project investigates how the brain regulates behaviour and autonomic bodily responses. PHYSPROSOC will employ autonomic biomarkers to assess brain activity during complex behaviours such as social interactions. A novel methodology will continuously monitor autonomic biomarkers in interacting partners during the formation of alliances and various cooperative, affiliative and sexual behaviours. The project elucidates the physical processes involved in social behaviour and establishes connections between studies of animal cognition and neuroscience research on brain circuits.
Objective
Social life is a mix of cooperation and competition. A critical component of cooperation is proactive prosociality, arguably contributing to the emergence of complex cognition. Recent findings in corvids reported similarities in the behavioral and cognitive levels between birds and mammals, suggesting convergent evolution of socio-cognitive skills. This project aims to understand the development of prosocial behaviors and their underlying physiological mechanisms in two avian species – Carrion Crows and Ring Doves. The main premise of this project is that the brain governs both behavior and autonomic body responses, thus, autonomic biomarkers can be used to gauge brain activity during complex behaviors such as social interactions. A newly established methodology will be deployed to continuously monitor autonomic biomarkers such as heart rate and body temperature in two or more interacting partners during forming alliances and cooperative, affiliative, and sexual behaviors. The biomarkers will be used for longitudinal measurements of proactive-reactive social behaviors during the socio-cognitive development of crows to predict prosocial behaviors and individual differences in social integration. Altogether, this research will contribute to the understanding of physiological mechanisms driving social behavior and bridge the gap between studies in animal cognition using a purely behavioral approach and invasive neuroscience methods to study brain circuits underlying behavior.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences neurobiology
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology mammalogy
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1010 Wien
Austria
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.