Social interactions are thought to be a critical driver in the evolution of cognitive ability. Cooperative interactions, such as pair bonding, rather than competitive interactions have been largely implicated in the evolution of increased cognition. This is despite competition traditionally being a very strong driver of trait evolution. Males of many species track changes in their social environment and alter their reproductive strategies in response to anticipated levels of competition. We predict this to be cognitively challenging. Using a Drosophila melanogaster model, we are able to distinguish between the effects of a competitive environment versus generic social contact by exposing flies to same-sex same-species competition versus different species partners, shown to present non-competitive contacts. Males increase olfactory learning/memory and visual memory after exposure to conspecific males only, a pattern echoed by increased expression of synaptic genes and an increased need for sleep. For females, largely not affected by mating competition, the opposite pattern was seen. The results indicate that specific social contacts dependent on sex, not simply generic social stimulation, may be an important evolutionary driver for cognitive ability in fruit flies.

中文翻译：

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社会竞争以特定性别的方式刺激认知表现

社交互动被认为是认知能力进化的关键驱动因素。合作性互动，例如配对结合，而不是竞争性互动在很大程度上与认知增加的进化有关。尽管竞争传统上是性状进化的一个非常强大的驱动力。许多物种的雄性跟踪其社会环境的变化，并根据预期的竞争水平改变其生殖策略。我们预测这在认知上具有挑战性。使用果蝇模型，我们能够通过将果蝇暴露于同性同种竞争与不同物种伙伴之间来区分竞争环境与一般社会接触的影响，显示为呈现非竞争性接触。仅与同种雄性接触后，雄性会增加嗅觉学习/记忆和视觉记忆，这种模式与突触基因表达增加和睡眠需求增加相呼应。对于在很大程度上不受交配竞争影响的雌性，观察到了相反的模式。结果表明，依赖于性别的特定社会接触，而不仅仅是一般的社会刺激，可能是果蝇认知能力的重要进化驱动因素。