Description: This communication summarizes results investigating the role of information distribution during peer learning at university. Working on identical information favoured discussion and confrontations of points of view, but at the same time focused students on social comparison of competence and competition. In this competitive context, partner's competence becomes threatening for student's own competence and detrimental for students' learning. Moreover the relational activities focused on social comparison of competence mediated the negative effect of working on identical information. In contrast, working on complementary information created a reciprocal interdependence to access information and this interdependence favoured students' involvement in information transmission and cooperation. In this cooperative context, partner's competence was welcomed and beneficial for students' learning. But when they worked on complementary information, students were also dependent on the quality of information transmission from their partner, and learning could be impaired in case of a poor informational input. When students worked on complementary information, positive interactions and cooperation led to gain in learning only when the quality of information transmission was guaranteed. Thus information distribution induces two different dynamics regarding both students' motivation, student interactions and learning.