Hippocampal coding of identity, sex, hierarchy, and affiliation in a social group of wild fruit bats.

Abstract

Social animals live in groups and interact volitionally in complex ways. However, little is known about neural responses under such natural conditions. Here, we investigated hippocampal CA1 neurons in a mixed-sex group of five to 10 freely behaving wild Egyptian fruit bats that lived continuously in a laboratory-based cave and formed a stable social network. In-flight, most hippocampal place cells were socially modulated and represented the identity and sex of conspecifics. Upon social interactions, neurons represented specific interaction types. During active observation, neurons encoded the bat's own position and head direction, together with the position, direction, and identity of multiple conspecifics. Identity-coding neurons encoded the same bat across contexts. The strength of identity coding was modulated by sex, hierarchy, and social affiliation. Thus, hippocampal neurons form a multidimensional sociospatial representation of the natural world.