Kin recognition in neonates and adults: an interdisciplinary approach – Family-Air

Exchanges within the family and cooperation among related individuals are stronger than among unrelated individuals, from a theoretical as well as experimental point of view. From this observation, a probing question emerges regarding mechanisms that allow humans to categorize related individuals. This categorization can emerge either from learning during association among kin individuals -familiarization mechanism- or from direct assessment of kinship of individuals -phenotypic matching mechanism- or both. Important shortcomings are nevertheless present, as much in experimental proof of these mechanisms in humans as with sensory systems and their functionalities during individual ontogenesis. The objective of this project is therefore to develop a coherent corpus of knowledge dealing with the capacity that allows humans to categorize and recognize related individuals. The project puts particular emphasis on mechanisms, taking into account two important sensory media and articulated around three themes: 1) visual signatures implicated in kin recognition that uses a behavioral approach; 2) visual signatures implicated in kin recognition using connectionist models; 3) olfactory signatures implicated in kin recognition. The project stands at the crossroads of human sciences and behavioral ecology. Given the hermetic nature of these two fields, and unlike English-speaking countries that have already integrated the evolutionary approach in their psychology research, the objective of this project is to make these approaches complementary, allowing the emergence of research that provides an original perspective on human behavior. The innovative aspect of this interdisciplinary approach (of the different partners) mean that this project will bring about important structural effects on the emergence of a research hub specializing in integration of the evolutionary approach in human behavior. The project brings together the work of three groups of French researchers, two of which specialize in the study of early neonatal ability and its ontogenetic development, and one of which specializes in computational models of visual systems.