1
|
Lucon-Xiccato T. Inhibitory control in teleost fish: a methodological and conceptual review. Anim Cogn 2024; 27:27. [PMID: 38530456 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-024-01867-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2023] [Revised: 03/09/2024] [Accepted: 03/11/2024] [Indexed: 03/28/2024]
Abstract
Inhibitory control (IC) plays a central role in behaviour control allowing an individual to resist external lures and internal predispositions. While IC has been consistently investigated in humans, other mammals, and birds, research has only recently begun to explore IC in other vertebrates. This review examines current literature on teleost fish, focusing on both methodological and conceptual aspects. I describe the main paradigms adopted to study IC in fish, identifying well-established tasks that fit various research applications and highlighting their advantages and limitations. In the conceptual analysis, I identify two well-developed lines of research with fish examining IC. The first line focuses on a comparative approach aimed to describe IC at the level of species and to understand the evolution of interspecific differences in relation to ecological specialisation, brain size, and factors affecting cognitive performance. Findings suggest several similarities between fish and previously studied vertebrates. The second line of research focuses on intraspecific variability of IC. Available results indicate substantial variation in fish IC related to sex, personality, genetic, age, and phenotypic plasticity, aligning with what is observed with other vertebrates. Overall, this review suggests that although data on teleosts are still scarce compared to mammals, the contribution of this group to IC research is already substantial and can further increase in various disciplines including comparative psychology, cognitive ecology, and neurosciences, and even in applied fields such as psychiatry research.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tyrone Lucon-Xiccato
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Prentice PM, Thornton A, Kolm N, Wilson AJ. Genetic and context-specific effects on individual inhibitory control performance in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata). J Evol Biol 2023; 36:1796-1810. [PMID: 37916730 PMCID: PMC10947024 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.14241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2023] [Revised: 09/12/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 11/03/2023]
Abstract
Among-individual variation in cognitive traits, widely assumed to have evolved under adaptive processes, is increasingly being demonstrated across animal taxa. As variation among individuals is required for natural selection, characterizing individual differences and their heritability is important to understand how cognitive traits evolve. Here, we use a quantitative genetic study of wild-type guppies repeatedly exposed to a 'detour task' to test for genetic variance in the cognitive trait of inhibitory control. We also test for genotype-by-environment interactions (GxE) by testing related fish under alternative experimental treatments (transparent vs. semi-transparent barrier in the detour-task). We find among-individual variation in detour task performance, consistent with differences in inhibitory control. However, analysis of GxE reveals that heritable factors only contribute to performance variation in one treatment. This suggests that the adaptive evolutionary potential of inhibitory control (and/or other latent variables contributing to task performance) may be highly sensitive to environmental conditions. The presence of GxE also implies that the plastic response of detour task performance to treatment environment is genetically variable. Our results are consistent with a scenario where variation in individual inhibitory control stems from complex interactions between heritable and plastic components.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pamela M. Prentice
- Centre for Ecology and ConservationUniversity of ExeterPenrynUK
- SRUC, Easter Bush, Roslin Institute BuildingMidlothianUK
| | - Alex Thornton
- Centre for Ecology and ConservationUniversity of ExeterPenrynUK
| | - Niclas Kolm
- Department of ZoologyStockholm UniversityStockholmSweden
| | | |
Collapse
|
3
|
Montalbano G, Bertolucci C, Bisazza A, Lucon-Xiccato T. Interspecific differences in developmental mode determine early cognitive abilities in teleost fish. Anim Cogn 2023; 26:1893-1903. [PMID: 37831192 PMCID: PMC10769910 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-023-01828-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2023] [Revised: 09/26/2023] [Accepted: 09/29/2023] [Indexed: 10/14/2023]
Abstract
Most studies on developmental variation in cognition have suggested that individuals are born with reduced or absent cognitive abilities, and thereafter, cognitive performance increases with age during early development. However, these studies have been mainly performed in altricial species, such as humans, in which offspring are extremely immature at birth. In this work, we tested the hypothesis that species with other developmental modes might show different patterns of cognitive development. To this end, we analysed inhibitory control performance in two teleost species with different developmental modes, the zebrafish Danio rerio and the guppy Poecilia reticulata, exploiting a simple paradigm based on spontaneous behaviour and therefore applicable to subjects of different ages. Zebrafish hatch as larvae 3 days after fertilisation, and have an immature nervous system, a situation that mirrors extreme altriciality. We found that at the early stages of development, zebrafish displayed no evidence of inhibitory control, which only begun to emerge after one month of life. Conversely, guppies, which are born after approximately one month of gestation as fully developed and independent individuals, solved the inhibitory control task since their first days of life, although performance increased with sexual maturation. Our study suggests that the typical progression described during early ontogeny in humans and other species might not be the only developmental trend for animals' cognition and that a species' developmental mode might determine variation in cognition across subjects of different age.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Montalbano
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Via L. Borsari 46, 44121, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Cristiano Bertolucci
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Via L. Borsari 46, 44121, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Angelo Bisazza
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Tyrone Lucon-Xiccato
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Via L. Borsari 46, 44121, Ferrara, Italy.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Lucon-Xiccato T, Montalbano G, Bertolucci C. Adaptive phenotypic plasticity induces individual variability along a cognitive trade-off. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20230350. [PMID: 37357854 PMCID: PMC10291716 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.0350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2023] [Accepted: 06/02/2023] [Indexed: 06/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Animal species, including humans, display patterns of individual variability in cognition that are difficult to explain. For instance, some individuals perform well in certain cognitive tasks but show difficulties in others. We experimentally analysed the contribution of cognitive plasticity to such variability. Theory suggests that diametrically opposed cognitive phenotypes increase individuals' fitness in environments with different conditions such as resource predictability. Therefore, if selection has generated plasticity that matches individuals' cognitive phenotypes to the environment, this might produce remarkable cognitive variability. We found that guppies, Poecilia reticulata, exposed to an environment with high resource predictability (i.e. food available at the same time and in the same location) developed enhanced learning abilities. Conversely, guppies exposed to an environment with low resource predictability (i.e. food available at a random time and location) developed enhanced cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control. These cognitive differences align along a trade-off between functions that favour the acquisition of regularities such as learning and functions that adjust behaviour to changing conditions (cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control). Therefore, adaptive cognitive plasticity in response to resource predictability (and potentially similar factors) is a key determinant of cognitive individual differences.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tyrone Lucon-Xiccato
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Via L. Borsari 46, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
| | - Giulia Montalbano
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Via L. Borsari 46, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
| | - Cristiano Bertolucci
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Via L. Borsari 46, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
The effect of sex, age and boldness on inhibitory control. Anim Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.09.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
|
6
|
Lucon-Xiccato T. The contribution of executive functions to sex differences in animal cognition. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2022; 138:104705. [PMID: 35605792 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2022] [Revised: 04/22/2022] [Accepted: 05/17/2022] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
Cognitive sex differences have been reported in several vertebrate species, mostly in spatial abilities. Here, I review evidence of sex differences in a family of general cognitive functions that control behaviour and cognition, i.e., executive functions such as cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control. Most of this evidence derives from studies in teleost fish. However, analysis of literature from other fields (e.g., biomedicine, genetic, ecology) concerning mammals and birds reveals that more than 40% of species investigated exhibit sex differences in executive functions. Among species, the direction and magnitude of these sex differences vary greatly, even within the same family, suggesting sex-specific selection due to species' reproductive systems and reproductive roles of males and females. Evidence also suggests that sex differences in executive functions might provide males and females highly differentiated cognitive phenotypes. To understand the evolution of cognitive sex differences in vertebrates, future research should consider executive functions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tyrone Lucon-Xiccato
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Via Borsari 46, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Reddon AR, Aubin‐Horth N, Reader SM. Wild guppies from populations exposed to higher predation risk exhibit greater vasotocin brain gene expression. J Zool (1987) 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12937] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- A. R. Reddon
- School of Biological and Environmental Sciences Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool UK
- Department of Biology McGill University Montreal Quebec Canada
| | - N. Aubin‐Horth
- Département de Biologie et Institut de Biologie Intégrative et des Systèmes Université Laval Quebec City Québec Canada
| | - S. M. Reader
- Department of Biology McGill University Montreal Quebec Canada
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Loyant L, Waller BM, Micheletta J, Joly M. Heterogeneity of performances in several inhibitory control tasks: male rhesus macaques are more easily distracted than females. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2021; 8:211564. [PMID: 34849250 PMCID: PMC8611350 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.211564] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2021] [Accepted: 10/15/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Inhibitory control, the ability to override a dominant response, is crucial in many aspects of everyday life. In animal studies, striking individual variations are often largely ignored and their causes rarely considered. Hence, our aims were to systematically investigate individual variability in inhibitory control, to replicate the most common causes of individual variation (age, sex and rank) and to determine if these factors had a consistent effect on three main components of inhibitory control (inhibition of a distraction, inhibition of an action, inhibition of a cognitive set). We tested 21 rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in a battery of validated touchscreen tasks. We first found individual variations in all inhibitory control performances. We then demonstrated that males had poorer performances to inhibit a distraction and that middle-aged individuals exhibited poorer performance in the inhibition of a cognitive set. Hence, the factors of age and sex were not consistently associated with the main components of inhibitory control, suggesting a multi-faceted structure. The rank of the subjects did not influence any inhibitory control performances. This study adopts a novel approach for animal behaviour studies and gives new insight into the individual variability of inhibitory control which is crucial to understand its evolutionary underpinnings.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Louise Loyant
- Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, King Henry Building, Portsmouth PO1 2DY, UK
| | - Bridget M. Waller
- Department of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK
| | - Jérôme Micheletta
- Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, King Henry Building, Portsmouth PO1 2DY, UK
| | - Marine Joly
- Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, King Henry Building, Portsmouth PO1 2DY, UK
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Savaşçı BB, Lucon-Xiccato T, Bisazza A. Ontogeny and personality affect inhibitory control in guppies, Poecilia reticulata. Anim Behav 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.08.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
|
10
|
Macario A, Darden SK, Verbruggen F, Croft DP. Intraspecific variation in inhibitory motor control in guppies, Poecilia reticulata. JOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY 2021; 98:317-328. [PMID: 33128393 DOI: 10.1111/jfb.14608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2020] [Revised: 10/21/2020] [Accepted: 10/29/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Inhibitory control (IC) is the ability to overcome impulsive or prepotent but ineffective responses in favour of more appropriate behaviours. The ability to inhibit internal predispositions or external temptations is vital in coping with a complex and variable world. Traditionally viewed as cognitively demanding and a main component of executive functioning and self-control, IC was historically examined in only a few species of birds and mammals but recently a number of studies has shown that a much wider range of taxa rely on IC. Furthermore, there is growing evidence that inhibitory abilities may vary within species at the population and individual levels owing to genetic and environmental factors. Here we use a detour-reaching task, a standard paradigm to measure motor inhibition in nonhuman animals, to quantify patterns of interindividual variation in IC in wild-descendant female guppies, Poecilia reticulata. We found that female guppies displayed inhibitory performances that were, on average, half as successful as the performances reported previously for other strains of guppies tested in similar experimental conditions. Moreover, we showed consistent individual variation in the ability to inhibit inappropriate behaviours. Our results contribute to the understanding of the evolution of fish cognition and suggest that IC may show considerable variation among populations within a species. Such variation in IC abilities might contribute to individual differences in other cognitive functions such as spatial learning, quantity discrimination or reversal learning.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Macario
- Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - Safi K Darden
- Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - Frederick Verbruggen
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Darren P Croft
- Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Lucon-Xiccato T, Montalbano G, Dadda M, Bertolucci C. Lateralization correlates with individual differences in inhibitory control in zebrafish. Biol Lett 2020; 16:20200296. [PMID: 32750269 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0296] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Individual fitness often depends on the ability to inhibit behaviours not adapted to a given situation. However, inhibitory control can vary greatly between individuals of the same species. We investigated a mechanism that might maintain this variability in zebrafish (Danio rerio). We demonstrate that inhibitory control correlates with cerebral lateralization, the tendency to process information with one brain hemisphere or the other. Individuals that preferentially observed a social stimulus with the right eye and thus processed social information with the left brain hemisphere, inhibited foraging behaviour more efficiently. Therefore, selective pressures that maintain lateralization variability in populations might provide indirect selection for variability in inhibitory control. Our study suggests that individual cognitive differences may result from complex multi-trait selection mechanisms.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tyrone Lucon-Xiccato
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Via L. Borsari 46, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
| | - Giulia Montalbano
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Via L. Borsari 46, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
| | - Marco Dadda
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Cristiano Bertolucci
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Via L. Borsari 46, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Lucon-Xiccato T, Bertolucci C. Inhibitory control in zebrafish, Danio rerio. JOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY 2020; 97:416-423. [PMID: 32402095 DOI: 10.1111/jfb.14380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2019] [Revised: 05/07/2020] [Accepted: 05/11/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
We assessed whether zebrafish, Danio rerio, display inhibitory control using a simple and rapid behavioural test. Zebrafish were exposed to a prey stimulus placed inside a transparent tube, which initially elicited attack behaviour. However, zebrafish showed a rapid reduction in the number of attacks towards the prey, which indicated the ability to inhibit their foraging behaviour. Zebrafish also exhibited mnemonic retention of foraging inhibition, as indicated by a reduced number of attacks in a subsequent exposure to the unreachable prey. The ability to inhibit the foraging behaviour varied across three genetically separated wild-type strains and across different individuals within strains, suggesting that zebrafish show heritable within-species differences in inhibitory control. Our behavioural test might be suitable for screening large zebrafish populations in mutational studies and assessing the effects of pharmacologically active substances on inhibitory control.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tyrone Lucon-Xiccato
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Cristiano Bertolucci
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| |
Collapse
|