1
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Amici F, Meacci S, Caray E, Oña L, Liebal K, Ciucci P. A first exploratory comparison of the behaviour of wolves (Canis lupus) and wolf-dog hybrids in captivity. Anim Cogn 2024; 27:9. [PMID: 38429445 PMCID: PMC10907477 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-024-01849-7] [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: 09/11/2023] [Revised: 10/31/2023] [Accepted: 11/07/2023] [Indexed: 03/03/2024]
Abstract
Extensive introgression of genes from domesticated taxa may be a serious threat for the genomic integrity and adaptability of wild populations. Grey wolves (Canis lupus) are especially vulnerable to this phenomenon, but there are no studies yet assessing the potential behavioural effects of dog-introgression in wolves. In this study, we conducted a first systematic comparison of admixed (N = 11) and non-admixed (N = 14) wolves in captivity, focusing on their reaction to unfamiliar humans and novel objects, and the cohesiveness of their social groups. When exposed to unfamiliar humans in the experimental task, wolves were more vigilant, fearful and aggressive than admixed wolves, and less likely to approach humans, but also more likely to spend time in human proximity. When exposed to novel objects, wolves were more aggressive than admixed wolves, less likely to spend time in object proximity, and more likely to interact with objects, but also less vigilant and as fearful as admixed wolves. Finally, social networks were more cohesive in wolves than in admixed wolves. Although caution is needed when comparing groups of captive individuals with different life experiences, our study suggests that dog admixture may lead to important behavioural changes in wolves, with possible implications for conservation strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federica Amici
- Life Sciences, Institute for Biology, Human Biology and Primate Cognition, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Simone Meacci
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology "Charles Darwin", Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Emmeline Caray
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
| | - Linda Oña
- Life Sciences, Institute for Biology, Human Biology and Primate Cognition, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Katja Liebal
- Life Sciences, Institute for Biology, Human Biology and Primate Cognition, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Paolo Ciucci
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology "Charles Darwin", Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
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2
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Dissegna A, Borrelli L, Ponte G, Chiandetti C, Fiorito G. Octopus vulgaris Exhibits Interindividual Differences in Behavioural and Problem-Solving Performance. BIOLOGY 2023; 12:1487. [PMID: 38132313 PMCID: PMC10740590 DOI: 10.3390/biology12121487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2023] [Revised: 11/26/2023] [Accepted: 11/30/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
By presenting individual Octopus vulgaris with an extractive foraging problem with a puzzle box, we examined the possible correlation between behavioural performances (e.g., ease of adaptation to captive conditions, prevalence of neophobic and neophilic behaviours, and propensity to learn individually or by observing conspecifics), biotic (body and brain size, age, sex) and abiotic (seasonality and place of origin) factors. We found more neophilic animals showing shorter latencies to approach the puzzle box and higher probability of solving the task; also, shorter times to solve the task were correlated with better performance on the individual learning task. However, the most neophilic octopuses that approached the puzzle box more quickly did not reach the solution earlier than other individuals, suggesting that strong neophilic tendency may lead to suboptimal performance at some stages of the problem-solving process. In addition, seasonal and environmental characteristics of location of origin appear to influence the rate of expression of individual traits central to problem solving. Overall, our analysis provides new insights into the traits associated with problem solving in invertebrates and highlights the presence of adaptive mechanisms that promote population-level changes in octopuses' behavioural traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Dissegna
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, 34127 Trieste, Italy; (A.D.); (C.C.)
| | - Luciana Borrelli
- Animal Physiology and Evolution Lab, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Napoli, Italy;
| | - Giovanna Ponte
- Department of Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Napoli, Italy;
| | - Cinzia Chiandetti
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, 34127 Trieste, Italy; (A.D.); (C.C.)
| | - Graziano Fiorito
- Department of Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Napoli, Italy;
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3
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Harris H, Wat KKY, Banks PB, Greenville A, McArthur C. Grow up, be persistent, and stay focused: keys for solving foraging problems by free-ranging possums. Behav Ecol 2023; 34:790-803. [PMID: 38046238 PMCID: PMC10690113 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arad054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2022] [Revised: 04/18/2023] [Accepted: 06/12/2023] [Indexed: 12/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Individuals within a species often vary in both their problem-solving approach and ability, affecting their capacity to access novel food resources. Testing problem-solving in free-ranging individuals is crucial for understanding the fundamental ecological implications of problem-solving capacity. To examine the factors affecting problem-solving in free-ranging animals, we presented three food-extraction tasks of increasing difficulty to urban common brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula). We quantified two measures of problem-solving performance: trial outcome (success/failure) and time to solve and tested the influence of a range of potential drivers, including individual traits (personality, body weight, sex, and age), mechanistic behaviors that quantify problem-solving approach (work time, functional behavior time, behavioral diversity, and flexibility), and prior experience with the puzzles. We found that mechanistic behaviors were key drivers of performance. Individuals displaying greater persistence (higher work and functional behavior time) were more likely to solve a food-extraction task on their first attempt. Individuals also solved problems faster if they were more persistent and had lower behavioral flexibility. Personality indirectly affected time to solve one of the three problems by influencing time allocated to functional behaviors. Finally, adults solved the most difficult problem faster than juveniles. Overall, our study provides rare insight into the drivers underlying the problem-solving performance of wild animals. Such insight could be used to improve management strategies and conservation efforts, such as food or bait deployment, tailored to suit the innovative foraging abilities of target individuals in new and changing environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah Harris
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Heydon-Laurence Building (A08), Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
| | - Katie K Y Wat
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Heydon-Laurence Building (A08), Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
| | - Peter B Banks
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Heydon-Laurence Building (A08), Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
| | - Aaron Greenville
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Heydon-Laurence Building (A08), Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
| | - Clare McArthur
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Heydon-Laurence Building (A08), Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
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4
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Caicoya AL, Schaffer A, Holland R, von Fersen L, Colell M, Amici F. Innovation across 13 ungulate species: problem solvers are less integrated in the social group and less neophobic. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20222384. [PMID: 37015274 PMCID: PMC10072937 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2384] [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: 11/27/2022] [Accepted: 03/13/2023] [Indexed: 04/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Innovation is the ability to solve new problems or find novel solutions to familiar problems, and it is known to provide animals with crucial fitness benefits. Although this ability has been extensively studied in some taxa, the factors that predict innovation within and across species are still largely unclear. In this study, we used a novel foraging task to test 111 individuals belonging to 13 ungulate species-a still understudied taxon. To solve the task, individuals had to open transparent and opaque cups with food rewards, by removing their cover. We assessed whether individual factors (neophobia, social integration, sex, age, rank) and socio-ecological factors (dietary breadth, fission-fusion dynamics, domestication, group size) predicted participation and performance in the task. Using a phylogenetic approach, we showed that success was higher for less neophobic and socially less integrated individuals. Moreover, less neophobic individuals, individuals of domesticated species and having higher fission-fusion dynamics were more likely to participate in the task. These results are in line with recent literature suggesting a central role of sociality and personality traits to successfully deal with novel challenges, and confirm ungulates as a promising taxon to test evolutionary theories with a comparative approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alvaro L. Caicoya
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, 08007 Barcelona, Spain
- Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, 08021 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Alina Schaffer
- Behavioral Ecology Research Group, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Zoo Leipzig, 04015 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Ruben Holland
- Research Group Human Biology and Primate Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Lorenzo von Fersen
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Montserrat Colell
- Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, 08021 Barcelona, Spain
- Behavioral Ecology Research Group, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Federica Amici
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Nuremberg Zoo, 90480 Nuremberg, Germany
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5
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Garcia-Nisa I, Evans C, Kendal RL. The influence of task difficulty, social tolerance and model success on social learning in Barbary macaques. Sci Rep 2023; 13:1176. [PMID: 36670123 PMCID: PMC9860066 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-26699-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite playing a pivotal role in the inception of animal culture studies, macaque social learning is surprisingly understudied. Social learning is important to survival and influenced by dominance and affiliation in social animals. Individuals generally rely on social learning when individual learning is costly, and selectively use social learning strategies influencing what is learned and from whom. Here, we combined social learning experiments, using extractive foraging tasks, with network-based diffusion analysis (using various social relationships) to investigate the transmission of social information in free-ranging Barbary macaques. We also investigated the influence of task difficulty on reliance on social information and evidence for social learning strategies. Social learning was detected for the most difficult tasks only, with huddling relations outside task introductions, and observation networks during task introductions, predicting social transmission. For the most difficult task only, individuals appeared to employ a social learning strategy of copying the most successful demonstrator observed. Results indicate that high social tolerance represents social learning opportunities and influences social learning processes. The reliance of Barbary macaques on social learning, and cues of model-success supports the costly information hypothesis. Our study provides more statistical evidence to the previous claims indicative of culture in macaques.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Garcia-Nisa
- Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK.
| | - Cara Evans
- Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - Rachel L Kendal
- Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK
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6
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Steinberg DL, Lynch JW, Cartmill EA. A robust tool kit: First report of tool use in captive crested capuchin monkeys (Sapajus robustus). Am J Primatol 2022; 84:e23428. [PMID: 35942577 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23428] [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: 05/13/2022] [Revised: 07/15/2022] [Accepted: 07/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Primate tool use is of great interest but has been reported only in a limited number of species. Here we report tool use in crested capuchin monkeys (Sapajus robustus), an almost completely unstudied robust capuchin species. Crested capuchins and their sister species, the yellow-breasted capuchin, diverged from a common ancestor over 2 million years ago, so this study fills a significant gap in understanding of tool use capacity and variation within the robust capuchin monkey radiation. Our study group was a captive population of seven individuals at the Santa Ana Zoo in California. The monkeys were given no prior training, and they were provided with a variety of enrichment items, including materials that could be used as tools as well as hard-to-access resources, for open-ended interactions. In 54 observation hours, monkeys performed eleven tool use actions: digging, hammering, probing, raking, sponging, striking, sweeping, throwing, waving, wedging, and wiping. We observed tool modification, serial tool use, and social learning opportunities, including monkeys' direct observation of tool use and tolerated scrounging of foods obtained through tool use. We also observed significant individual skew in tool use frequency, with one individual using tools daily, and two individuals never using tools during the study. While crested capuchins have never been reported to use tools in the wild, our findings provide evidence for the species' capacity and propensity for tool use, highlighting the urgent need for research on this understudied, endangered primate. By providing detailed data on clearly identified S. robustus individuals, this study marks an effort to counteract the overgeneralization in the captive literature in referring to any robust capuchins of unknown provenance or ancestry as Cebus apella, a practice that obfuscates potential differences among species in tool use performance and repertoire in one of the only species-rich tool-using genera in the world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danielle L Steinberg
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Jessica W Lynch
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.,Division of Life Sciences, Institute for Society and Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Erica A Cartmill
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.,Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
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7
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Benítez ME, Painter MC, Guisneuf N, Bergman TJ. Answering big questions with small data: the use of field experiments in primate cognition. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2022.101141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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8
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Ventricelli M, Gratton P, Sabbatini G, Addessi E, Sgaraglia G, Rufo F, Sirianni G. Individual Variation in Response to Novel Food in Captive Capuchin Monkeys (Sapajus spp.). Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.820323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
How animals respond to novelty may have important outcomes in terms of fitness. On the one hand, aversion to novel stimuli may reduce the risks of consuming potentially toxic food or encountering predators. On the other hand, the propensity to approach novel stimuli may allow individuals to explore novel food sources and more flexibly adapt to novel challenges. Different species and individuals may find different ways to balance the costs and benefits that novelty posits. To date, however, little is known on how response to novel food varies across individuals of the same species depending on their previous experience with novelty, risk attitude and presence of higher-ranking conspecifics. In this study, we assessed individual variation in response to novel food by testing captive capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.) in an unconstrained social context, where all individuals in a group were able to access the testing area on a voluntary basis. We provided familiar and novel food to 23 study subjects belonging to four social groups differing in (i) previous experience with novel food, (ii) risk attitude (as assessed by a previous risky decision-making task), and (iii) dominance rank. We predicted that, as individuals may generalize their previous experience to novel contexts, those with more previous experience with novel food would be less neophobic than those with less experience. Moreover, if neophobia is a facet of the individual’s risk attitude, we predicted that more risk-prone individuals would be less neophobic than less risk-prone ones. Finally, individuals might flexibly modify their food choices according to the presence of conspecifics; in this respect, we predicted that, in response to monopolization of preferred resources by higher-ranking individuals, lower-ranking individuals would prefer familiar over novel food in the absence of higher-ranking individuals, but would modify their preference in favor of novel food in the presence of higher-ranking individuals. None of these predictions were supported by our results. We observed, however, that neophobia, measured as the latency to retrieve a food item, was more pronounced in lower-ranking than higher-ranking individuals, and that males showed a generally stronger bias than females toward a quicker retrieval of familiar food.
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9
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Captivity and habituation to humans raise curiosity in vervet monkeys. Anim Cogn 2021; 25:671-682. [PMID: 34855018 PMCID: PMC9107434 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-021-01589-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Revised: 09/29/2021] [Accepted: 11/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The cognitive mechanisms causing intraspecific behavioural differences between wild and captive animals remain poorly understood. Although diminished neophobia, resulting from a safer environment and more “free” time, has been proposed to underlie these differences among settings, less is known about how captivity influences exploration tendency. Here, we refer to the combination of reduced neophobia and increased interest in exploring novelty as “curiosity”, which we systematically compared across seven groups of captive and wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) by exposing them to a test battery of eight novel stimuli. In the wild sample, we included both monkeys habituated to human presence and unhabituated individuals filmed using motion-triggered cameras. Results revealed clear differences in number of approaches to novel stimuli among captive, wild-habituated and wild-unhabituated monkeys. As foraging pressure and predation risks are assumed to be equal for all wild monkeys, our results do not support a relationship between curiosity and safety or free time. Instead, we propose “the habituation hypothesis” as an explanation of why well-habituated and captive monkeys both approached and explored novelty more than unhabituated individuals. We conclude that varying levels of human and/or human artefact habituation, rather than the risks present in natural environments, better explain variation in curiosity in our sample of vervet monkeys.
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10
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Amici F, Widdig A, von Fersen L, Lopez Caicoya A, Majolo B. Intra-specific Variation in the Social Behavior of Barbary macaques ( Macaca sylvanus). Front Psychol 2021; 12:666166. [PMID: 34721132 PMCID: PMC8548740 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.666166] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2021] [Accepted: 09/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Non-human primates show an impressive behavioral diversity, both across and within species. However, the factors explaining intra-specific behavioral variation across groups and individuals are yet understudied. Here, we aimed to assess how group size and living conditions (i.e., captive, semi-free-ranging, wild) are linked to behavioral variation in 5 groups of Barbary macaques (N=137 individuals). In each group, we collected observational data on the time individuals spent in social interactions and on the group dominance style, along with experimental data on social tolerance over food and neophobia. Our results showed that differences in group size predicted differences in the time spent in social interactions, with smaller groups spending a higher proportion of time in close spatial proximity, but a lower proportion of time grooming. Moreover, group size predicted variation in dominance style, with smaller groups being more despotic. Social tolerance was affected by both group size and living conditions, being higher in smaller groups and in groups living in less natural conditions. Finally, individual characteristics also explained variation in social tolerance and neophobia, with socially integrated individuals having higher access to food sources, and higher-ranking ones being more neophobic. Overall, our results support the view that intra-specific variation is a crucial aspect in primate social behavior and call for more comparative studies to better understand the sources of within-species variation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federica Amici
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Research Group "Primate Behavioural Ecology", Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.,Faculty of Life Science, Behavioral Ecology Research Group, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Anja Widdig
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Research Group "Primate Behavioural Ecology", Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.,Faculty of Life Science, Behavioral Ecology Research Group, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Alvaro Lopez Caicoya
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.,Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
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11
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Caicoya AL, Colell M, Ensenyat C, Amici F. Problem solving in European bison ( Bison bonasus): two experimental approaches. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2021; 8:201901. [PMID: 34007461 PMCID: PMC8080012 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.201901] [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: 10/23/2020] [Accepted: 04/07/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The ability to solve novel problems is crucial for individual fitness. However, studies on problem solving are usually done on few taxa, with species with low encephalization quotient being rarely tested. Here, we aimed to study problem solving in a non-domesticated ungulate species, European bison, with two experimental tasks. In the first task, five individuals were presented with a hanging barrel filled with food, which could either be directly accessed (control condition) or which could only be reached by pushing a tree stump in the enclosure below it and stepping on it (experimental condition). In the second task, five individuals were repeatedly fed by an experimenter using a novel bucket to retrieve food from a bag. Then, three identical buckets were placed in the enclosure, while the experimenter waited outside with the bag without feeding the bison, either with a bucket (control condition) or without it (experimental condition). In the first task, no bison moved the stump behind the barrel and/or stepped on it to reach the food. In the second task, two individuals solved the task by pushing the bucket within the experimenter's reach, twice in the experimental and twice in the control condition. We suggest that bison showed a limited ability to solve novel problems, and discuss the implications for their understanding of the functional aspects of the tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alvaro L. Caicoya
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Montserrat Colell
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Federica Amici
- Junior Research Group 'Primate Kin Selection', Institute of Biology, Faculty of Bioscience, Pharmacy and Psychology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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12
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Rowell MK, Pillay N, Rymer TL. Problem Solving in Animals: Proposal for an Ontogenetic Perspective. Animals (Basel) 2021; 11:866. [PMID: 33803609 PMCID: PMC8002912 DOI: 10.3390/ani11030866] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2021] [Revised: 03/15/2021] [Accepted: 03/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Problem solving, the act of overcoming an obstacle to obtain an incentive, has been studied in a wide variety of taxa, and is often based on simple strategies such as trial-and-error learning, instead of higher-order cognitive processes, such as insight. There are large variations in problem solving abilities between species, populations and individuals, and this variation could arise due to differences in development, and other intrinsic (genetic, neuroendocrine and aging) and extrinsic (environmental) factors. However, experimental studies investigating the ontogeny of problem solving are lacking. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of problem solving from an ontogenetic perspective. The focus is to highlight aspects of problem solving that have been overlooked in the current literature, and highlight why developmental influences of problem-solving ability are particularly important avenues for future investigation. We argue that the ultimate outcome of solving a problem is underpinned by interacting cognitive, physiological and behavioural components, all of which are affected by ontogenetic factors. We emphasise that, due to the large number of confounding ontogenetic influences, an individual-centric approach is important for a full understanding of the development of problem solving.
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Affiliation(s)
- Misha K. Rowell
- College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, P. O. Box 6811, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia;
- Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, James Cook University, P. O. Box 6811, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia
| | - Neville Pillay
- School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa;
| | - Tasmin L. Rymer
- College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, P. O. Box 6811, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia;
- Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, James Cook University, P. O. Box 6811, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia
- School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa;
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13
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Martina C, Cowlishaw G, Carter AJ. Individual differences in task participation in wild chacma baboons. Anim Behav 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2020.11.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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