Social spatial cognition

• Published in: Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews Vol. 121; pp. 277 - 290
• Main Authors: Dorfman, Alex, Weiss, Omri, Hagbi, Zohar, Levi, Anat, Eilam, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2021
• Subjects: Affective spatial behavior; Exploration; Social cognitive map; Social distance; Spatial cognition; Spatial representation; Social distance; Exploration; Affective spatial behavior; Social cognitive map; Spatial cognition; Spatial representation
• ISSN: 0149-7634; 1873-7528; 1873-7528
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.12.023

•Spatial cognition relies on knowledge of both the social and physical environments.•In shaping spatial behavior, the social environment predominates the physical one.•Social distance is a measurable proxy for socialization and group formation.•Social distance reflects how alien individuals become spatially coordinated.•The neural control of spatial behavior should consider more than a single animal. Social spatial cognition refers to the interaction between self, place, and partners, with emphasis on the impact of the social environment on spatial behavior and on how individual spatial representations converge to form collective spatial behavior - i.e., common places and routes. Recent studies suggest that in addition to their mental representation (cognitive map) of the physical environment, humans and other animals also have a social cognitive map. We suggest that while social spatial cognition relies on knowledge of both the physical and the social environments, it is the latter hat predominates. This dominance is illustrated here in the modulation of spatial behavior according to dynamic social interactions, ranging from group formation to an attenuation of drug-induced stereotypy through the mere presence of a normal subject. Consequently we suggest that the numerous studies on the biobehavioral controlling mechanisms of spatial behavior (i.e. - the hippocampal formation, animal models for mental disorders) should also consider the social environment rather than solely focusing on the spatial behavior of lone animals.