300010 VO Social Systems (2017W)

Living with conspecifics seems to be the default option in vertebrates; the basic neuronal and physiological structures and functions were conservatively maintained from the advent of gnathostome fishes till today, over at least 450 mio years of Phylogeny. In the homoeothermic vertebrate phyla (birds and mammals) we see an increasing role of cognitive mechanisms in decision making and impulse control and vice versa, social complexity became an important driver of big and able brains. The course will start with an overview over the patterns of social systems in animals including humans and will mainly concentrate to the on the structures and Mechanisms employed in sociality.