巴黎文理研究大学Ph. Faure课题组揭示动态社会专业化的多巴胺能机制。2026年4月1日，国际知名学术期刊《自然》发表了这一成果。

通过在半自然环境下的行为跟踪、神经记录和整合强化学习和社会条件的计算模型，课题组人员发现三联等基因小鼠在解决社会约束下的觅食任务时自发地发展出专门的角色。值得注意的是，当小鼠单独接受测试时，尽管性别内的行为差异很小，但雄性三鼠组在竞争驱动下形成了稳定的“工作者-偷食者”关系，而雌性三鼠组则采用统一的合作策略。这些性别分化的角色是由腹侧被盖区多巴胺能活动塑造的。模型分析揭示了性别内和性别间的抵抗利用参数差异，结合偶然的社会互动，如何驱动行为专业化和劳动分工。最值得注意的是，它强调了被竞争放大的偶然性如何放大了个体差异，塑造了社会形象。当性别混合或将经验丰富的个体重新引入幼稚群体时，社会组织的可塑性和适应性就会明显地重塑角色分配。

此外，多巴胺能操纵证实了这种可塑性，重塑了角色并改变了群体结构。他们的发现支持一个多尺度反馈循环，即社会环境塑造神经状态，进而加强行为专业化和稳定社会结构。

研究人员表示，社会组织和劳动分工是动物社会的基础，但这些结构是如何从个体互动中产生的，又是如何被神经调节所塑造的，目前还不清楚。

附：英文原文

Title: Dopaminergic mechanisms of dynamical social specialization

Author: Soli, C., Nicolson, A., Justo, R., Layadi, Y., Morin, B., Batifol, C., Reynolds, L. M., Le Borgne, T., Fayad, S. L., Gulmez, A., Rodriguez Quevedo, Y., Allegret-Vautrot, J., Centene Guglielmi, G., de Chaumont, F., Didienne, S., Debray, N., Hardelin, J.-P., Girard, B., Mourot, A., Naud, J., Viollet, C., Marti, F., Delord, B., Faure, Ph.

Issue&Volume: 2026-04-01

Abstract: Social organization and division of labour are fundamental to animal societies1,2,3, yet how these structures emerge from individual interactions and are shaped by neuromodulation remains unclear. Here, using behavioural tracking in a semi-natural environment, neural recordings and computational models that integrate reinforcement learning and social condition, we show that triads of isogenic mice develop specialized roles spontaneously while solving a foraging task under social constraints. Notably, despite minor intra-sex differences in behaviour when mice were tested alone, male triads formed stable worker–scrounger relationships driven by competition, whereas female triads adopted uniform, cooperative strategies. These sex-divergent roles were shaped by dopaminergic activity in the ventral tegmental area. Model analysis revealed how intra-sex and inter-sex parameter differences in resource exploitation, combined with contingent social interactions, drive behavioural specialization and division of labour. Most notably, it highlighted how contingency, amplified by competition, magnifies individual differences and shapes social profiles. The plastic, adaptive nature of social organization was apparent when sex mixing or reintroducing experienced individuals into naive groups reshaped role distribution. Furthermore, dopaminergic manipulations confirmed this plasticity, reshaping roles and altering group structure. Our findings support a multi-scale feedback loop whereby social context shapes neural states, which in turn reinforce behavioural specialization and stabilize social structures.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10301-4

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10301-4