NTHU interdisciplinary research team unveils secret to success

Chou Yu-Ju (left) and Kuo Tsung-Han have found that social dominance is not so much determined by who is stronger, but rather by who is willing to yield. (Photo: National Tsing Hua University)

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 19 (Bernama) -- Cross-species research conducted by an interdisciplinary research team at National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) led by professors Yu-Ju Chou from the Department of Early Childhood Education and Tsung-Han Kuo from the Institute of Systems Neuroscience has found that the social hierarchies of children and mice are similarly formed at an early age.

Surprisingly, they discovered that these hierarchies are not so much determined by who is stronger, but rather by who is willing to yield, according to a statement.

Their research was published in iScience, a sub-journal of Cell. They suggest that parents and teachers should pay close attention to social interaction among children, and provide extra guidance and encouragement to timid or submissive children.

The experiment used to identify young mouse hierarchy is a “tube test”, in which one mouse is forced to retreat by an opponent into a narrow tube.

The team also conducted behavioural experiments on preschoolers and attained similar results. Chou said that the children who won the competition didn’t really need to exert too much effort.

The losers either readily gave up or were easily convinced to acquiesce by their opponents. While some children were able to dominate the game by commending others, submissive children were less persistent and more likely to retreat.

The study was sponsored by the Office of Research and Development. The merger of NTHU with National Hsinchu University of Education six years ago resulted in extensive cooperation, including this exemplary research.

In a follow-up project, Chou and Kuo teamed up with Dr Shi-Bing Yang from Academia Sinica and found a positive correlation between hierarchy and memory. The study showed that memory-improving drugs can enhance not only memory but also social dominance in mice.

It also suggested that children with a better memory are good at adopting social strategies and recognising dominant facial cues, which is conducive to leadership. This research has recently been published in the journal Communications Biology.

-- BERNAMA