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Woodley of Menie MA, Peñaherrera-Aguirre M, Sarraf MA. Do Cleaner Fish (Labroides dimidiatus) Have General Cognitive Ability? A Reanalysis of Individual Differences Data and Consideration of Phylogenetic Context. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2023. [DOI: 10.1007/s40806-023-00357-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/19/2023]
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2
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De Meester G, Van Linden L, Torfs J, Pafilis P, Šunje E, Steenssens D, Zulčić T, Sassalos A, Van Damme R. Learning with lacertids: Studying the link between ecology and cognition within a comparative framework. Evolution 2022; 76:2531-2552. [PMID: 36111365 DOI: 10.1111/evo.14618] [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: 04/03/2022] [Revised: 08/10/2022] [Accepted: 08/21/2022] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Cognition is an essential tool for animals to deal with environmental challenges. Nonetheless, the ecological forces driving the evolution of cognition throughout the animal kingdom remain enigmatic. Large-scale comparative studies on multiple species and cognitive traits have been advanced as the best way to facilitate our understanding of cognitive evolution, but such studies are rare. Here, we tested 13 species of lacertid lizards (Reptilia: Lacertidae) using a battery of cognitive tests measuring inhibitory control, problem-solving, and spatial and reversal learning. Next, we tested the relationship between species' performance and (a) resource availability (temperature and precipitation), habitat complexity (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), and habitat variability (seasonality) in their natural habitat and (b) their life history (size at hatching and maturity, clutch size, and frequency). Although species differed markedly in their cognitive abilities, such variation was mostly unrelated to their ecology and life history. Yet, species living in more variable environments exhibited lower behavioral flexibility, likely due to energetic constrains in such habitats. Our standardized protocols provide opportunities for collaborative research, allowing increased sample sizes and replication, essential for moving forward in the field of comparative cognition. Follow-up studies could include more detailed measures of habitat structure and look at other potential selective drivers such as predation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gilles De Meester
- Functional Morphology Lab, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, 2610, Belgium.,Section of Zoology and Marine Biology, Department of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, 157 84, Greece
| | - Lisa Van Linden
- Functional Morphology Lab, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, 2610, Belgium
| | - Jonas Torfs
- Functional Morphology Lab, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, 2610, Belgium
| | - Panayiotis Pafilis
- Section of Zoology and Marine Biology, Department of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, 157 84, Greece
| | - Emina Šunje
- Functional Morphology Lab, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, 2610, Belgium.,Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, 71000, Bosnia and Herzegovina.,Herpetological Association in Bosnia and Herzegovina: BHHU: ATRA, Sarajevo, 71000, Bosnia and Herzegovina
| | - Dries Steenssens
- Functional Morphology Lab, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, 2610, Belgium
| | - Tea Zulčić
- Herpetological Association in Bosnia and Herzegovina: BHHU: ATRA, Sarajevo, 71000, Bosnia and Herzegovina
| | - Athanasios Sassalos
- Section of Zoology and Marine Biology, Department of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, 157 84, Greece
| | - Raoul Van Damme
- Functional Morphology Lab, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, 2610, Belgium
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Albers J, Reichert MS. Personality affects individual variation in olfactory learning and reversal learning in the house cricket, Acheta domesticus. Anim Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.06.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
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Task-dependent reversal learning dynamics challenge the reversal paradigm of measuring cognitive flexibility. Anim Behav 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.07.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
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Reichert MS, Morand-Ferron J, Kulahci IG, Firth JA, Davidson GL, Crofts SJ, Quinn JL. Cognition and covariance in the producer-scrounger game. J Anim Ecol 2021; 90:2497-2509. [PMID: 34091901 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2020] [Accepted: 06/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
The producer-scrounger game is a key element of foraging ecology in many systems. Producing and scrounging typically covary negatively, but partitioning this covariance into contributions of individual plasticity and consistent between individual differences is key to understanding population-level consequences of foraging strategies. Furthermore, little is known about the role cognition plays in the producer-scrounger game. We investigated the role of cognition in these alternative foraging tactics in wild mixed-species flocks of great tits and blue tits, using a production learning task in which we measured individuals' speed of learning to visit the single feeder in an array that would provide them with a food reward. We also quantified the proportion of individuals' feeds that were scrounges ('proportion scrounged'); scrounging was possible if individuals visited immediately after a previous rewarded visitor. Three learning experiments-initial and two reversal learning-enabled us to estimate the repeatability and covariance of each foraging behaviour. First, we examined whether individuals learned to improve their scrounging success (i.e. whether they obtained food by scrounging when there was an opportunity to do so). Second, we quantified the repeatability of proportion scrounged, and asked whether proportion scrounged affected production learning speed among individuals. Third, we used multivariate analyses to partition within- and among-individual components of covariance between proportion scrounged and production learning speed. Individuals improved their scrounging success over time. Birds with a greater proportion scrounged took longer to learn their own rewarding feeder. Although multivariate analyses showed that covariance between proportion scrounged and learning speed was driven primarily by within-individual variation, that is, by behavioural plasticity, among-individual differences also played a role for blue tits. This is the first demonstration of a cognitive trait influencing producing and scrounging in the same wild system, highlighting the importance of cognition in the use of alternative resource acquisition tactics. The results of our covariance analyses suggest the potential for genetic differences in allocation to alternative foraging tactics, which are likely species- and system-dependent. They also point to the need to control for different foraging tactics when studying individual cognition in the wild.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael S Reichert
- School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.,Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA
| | | | - Ipek G Kulahci
- School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.,Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA
| | - Josh A Firth
- Department of Zoology, Edward Grey Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.,Merton College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Gabrielle L Davidson
- School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.,Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Sam J Crofts
- Department of Zoology, Edward Grey Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - John L Quinn
- School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.,Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
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Poirier MA, Kozlovsky DY, Morand-Ferron J, Careau V. How general is cognitive ability in non-human animals? A meta-analytical and multi-level reanalysis approach. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20201853. [PMID: 33290683 PMCID: PMC7739923 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.1853] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2020] [Accepted: 11/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
General intelligence has been a topic of high interest for over a century. Traditionally, research on general intelligence was based on principal component analyses and other dimensionality reduction approaches. The advent of high-speed computing has provided alternative statistical tools that have been used to test predictions of human general intelligence. In comparison, research on general intelligence in non-human animals is in its infancy and still relies mostly on factor-analytical procedures. Here, we argue that dimensionality reduction, when incorrectly applied, can lead to spurious results and limit our understanding of ecological and evolutionary causes of variation in animal cognition. Using a meta-analytical approach, we show, based on 555 bivariate correlations, that the average correlation among cognitive abilities is low (r = 0.185; 95% CI: 0.087-0.287), suggesting relatively weak support for general intelligence in animals. We then use a case study with relatedness (genetic) data to demonstrate how analysing traits using mixed models, without dimensionality reduction, provides new insights into the structure of phenotypic variance among cognitive traits, and uncovers genetic associations that would be hidden otherwise. We hope this article will stimulate the use of alternative tools in the study of cognition and its evolution in animals.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Dovid Y. Kozlovsky
- Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Biology, Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania, USA
| | | | - Vincent Careau
- Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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No evidence that footedness in pheasants influences cognitive performance in tasks assessing colour discrimination and spatial ability. Learn Behav 2020; 48:84-95. [PMID: 31916193 PMCID: PMC7082386 DOI: 10.3758/s13420-019-00402-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
The differential specialization of each side of the brain facilitates the parallel processing of information and has been documented in a wide range of animals. Animals that are more lateralized as indicated by consistent preferential limb use are commonly reported to exhibit superior cognitive ability as well as other behavioural advantages. We assayed the lateralization of 135 young pheasants (Phasianus colchicus), indicated by their footedness in a spontaneous stepping task, and related this measure to individual performance in either 3 assays of visual or spatial learning and memory. We found no evidence that pronounced footedness enhances cognitive ability in any of the tasks. We also found no evidence that an intermediate footedness relates to better cognitive performance. This lack of relationship is surprising because previous work revealed that pheasants have a slight population bias towards right footedness, and when released into the wild, individuals with higher degrees of footedness were more likely to die. One explanation for why extreme lateralization is constrained was that it led to poorer cognitive performance, or that optimal cognitive performance was associated with some intermediate level of lateralization. This stabilizing selection could explain the pattern of moderate lateralization that is seen in most non-human species that have been studied. However, we found no evidence in this study to support this explanation.
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Griffin KR, Beardsworth CE, Laker PR, van Horik JO, Whiteside MA, Madden JR. The inhibitory control of pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) weakens when previously learned environmental information becomes unpredictable. Anim Cogn 2019; 23:189-202. [PMID: 31845017 PMCID: PMC6981107 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-019-01328-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2019] [Revised: 11/08/2019] [Accepted: 11/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Inhibitory control (IC) is the ability to intentionally restrain initial, ineffective responses to a stimulus and instead exhibit an alternative behaviour that is not pre-potent but which effectively attains a reward. Individuals (both humans and non-human animals) differ in their IC, perhaps as a result of the different environmental conditions they have experienced. We experimentally manipulated environmental predictability, specifically how reliable information linking a cue to a reward was, over a very short time period and tested how this affected an individual’s IC. We gave 119 pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) the opportunity to learn to associate a visual cue with a food reward in a binary choice task. We then perturbed this association for half the birds, whereas control birds continued to be rewarded when making the correct choice. We immediately measured all birds’ on a detour IC task and again 3 days later. Perturbed birds immediately performed worse than control birds, making more unrewarded pecks at the apparatus than control birds, although this effect was less for individuals that had more accurately learned the initial association. The effect of the perturbation was not seen 3 days later, suggesting that individual IC performance is highly plastic and susceptible to recent changes in environmental predictability. Specifically, individuals may perform poorly in activities requiring IC immediately after information in their environment is perturbed, with the perturbation inducing emotional arousal. Our finding that recent environmental changes can affect IC performance, depending on how well an animal has learned about that environment, means that interpreting individual differences in IC must account for both prior experience and relevant individual learning abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kandace R Griffin
- Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK
| | - Christine E Beardsworth
- Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK
| | - Philippa R Laker
- Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK
| | - Jayden O van Horik
- Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK
| | - Mark A Whiteside
- Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK
| | - Joah R Madden
- Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK.
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van Horik JO, Beardsworth CE, Laker PR, Langley EJG, Whiteside MA, Madden JR. Unpredictable environments enhance inhibitory control in pheasants. Anim Cogn 2019; 22:1105-1114. [PMID: 31471781 PMCID: PMC6834925 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-019-01302-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2019] [Revised: 08/19/2019] [Accepted: 08/22/2019] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
The ability to control impulsive actions is an important executive function that is central to the self-regulation of behaviours and, in humans, can have important implications for mental and physical health. One key factor that promotes individual differences in inhibitory control (IC) is the predictability of environmental information experienced during development (i.e. reliability of resources and social trust). However, environmental predictability can also influence motivational and other cognitive abilities, which may therefore confound interpretations of the mechanisms underlying IC. We investigated the role of environmental predictability, food motivation and cognition on IC. We reared pheasant chicks, Phasianus colchicus, under standardised conditions, in which birds experienced environments that differed in their spatial predictability. We systematically manipulated spatial predictability during their first 8 weeks of life, by either moving partitions daily to random locations (unpredictable environment) or leaving them in fixed locations (predictable environment). We assessed motivation by presenting pheasants with two different foraging tasks that measured their dietary breadth and persistence to acquire inaccessible food rewards, as well as recording their latencies to acquire a freely available baseline worm positioned adjacent to each test apparatus, their body condition (mass/tarsus3) and sex. We assessed cognitive performance by presenting each bird with an 80-trial binary colour discrimination task. IC was assessed using a transparent detour apparatus, which required subjects to inhibit prepotent attempts to directly acquire a visible reward through the barrier and instead detour around a barrier. We found greater capacities for IC in pheasants that were reared in spatially unpredictable environments compared to those reared in predictable environments. While IC was unrelated to individual differences in cognitive performance on the colour discrimination task or motivational measures, we found that environmental predictability had differential effects on sex. Males reared in an unpredictable environment, and all females regardless of their rearing environment, were less persistent than males reared in a predictable environment. Our findings, therefore, suggest that an individual’s developmental experience can influence their performance on IC tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jayden O van Horik
- Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, Washington Singer Laboratories, Psychology, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK.
| | - Christine E Beardsworth
- Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, Washington Singer Laboratories, Psychology, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK
| | - Philippa R Laker
- Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, Washington Singer Laboratories, Psychology, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK
| | - Ellis J G Langley
- Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, Washington Singer Laboratories, Psychology, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK
| | - Mark A Whiteside
- Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, Washington Singer Laboratories, Psychology, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK
| | - Joah R Madden
- Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, Washington Singer Laboratories, Psychology, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK
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