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Updated: May 17, 2025

Behavioral Tasks for Examining Identity Recognition In Mice
Published on: February 7, 2025
Psychological mechanisms for individual recognition- and anonymous-societies in humans and other animals
Christopher Krupenye1, Luz Carvajal1, Amalia P M Bastos1
1Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA krupenye@jhu.edu lcarvaj2@jhu.edu bastosamalia@hotmail.comsocial-cognitive-origins.com.
Abstract:
To understand the nature and evolution of different kinds of societies, we must characterize the psychological mechanisms members use to identify who belongs. Across both individual recognition- and anonymous-societies, these range from physiological responses to individuals up to powerful conceptual representations of the group that license generalization and novel predictions. Sketching these mechanisms helps us understand the transition from the individual recognition societies of our ape ancestors to uniquely human forms of anonymous society.
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