Effects of Failure on California Sea Lion (Zalophus californianus) Gameplay Strategies and Interest in a Cognitive Task: Implications for Cognitive Enrichment in Pinnipeds

Abstract

Cognitive enrichment for professionally managed species has become more prevalent in recent years in both zoological and research settings and has been encouraged as a means of welfare enhancement. However, the task’s difficulty must be specifically tailored as it can impact the successful nature of the sessions, as tasks that are too simple or difficult may not be perceived as enriching by the animals. While pinnipeds are common in zoos, aquariums, and research facilities, few studies have explored the use of cognitively challenging enrichment in this species, and the level of difficulty and presence of failure on animal success and engagement in this type of session has not been assessed. In this study, gameplay strategies during computerized enrichment sessions were evaluated before and after a game that introduced failure, or the loss of opportunity to complete a level for a reward after an incorrect movement. Interest in participation during the session, measured as the latency without contact, was also tested as a proxy for this enrichment’s effect on welfare. When incorrect movements resulted in a short pause and removed the opportunity to finish individual levels for a reward, all three sea lions tested significantly reduced the amount of time spent on each of several strategies they employed, but significantly increased the number of button presses per strategy, suggesting the animals focused on more precise movements as their proficiency improved. Two sea lions also showed a significant decline in latency without contact following the introduction of failure in the form of a single opportunity to complete a task for a reward after previously having unlimited opportunities, while one maintained a low latency without contact across both test conditions. The results suggest that more cognitively challenging tasks incorporating failure did not cause a reduction in gameplay performance and session interest in sea lions. Individual variation was also noted in strategy use, emphasizing the importance of evaluating the individual in terms of enrichment provision.

Minding the Minds: A Primer on Cognitive Challenge for Marine Mammals in Human Care

“…For example, simply watching videos on these screens would not count as a cognitive challenge, but doing the initial cognitive work of learning how to interface with the system and select particular videos would. Some examples of virtual puzzles that have been used with marine mammals to date have included the following: learning how to maneuver a cursor to contact a target on the screen [ 123 ], tracking and touching moving images [ 124 ], visual match-to-sample [ 125 ], learning to match visual stimuli to associated auditory stimuli [ 56 ], and using echolocation to draw [ 126 ].…”

“…All of the groups working with dolphins have placed the computer outside of an underwater window, and then either projected infrared light beams in front of the window, allowing dolphins to use their rostrums to interact with the computer like a touch screen [ 56 , 128 ]; or utilized an array of hydrophones in front of the window that allowed the dolphins to use their echolocation like a computer mouse [ 126 ]. The group working with sea lions placed the computer and its controls on land, and used buttons that the sea lion could press with their snout to move a cursor up, down, left, or right [ 123 , 125 ].…”

“…This would depend on both safety and training considerations. If any breakable components of the system are within the animals’ reach, or if the use of the virtual games is mediated by trainer reward (e.g., [ 123 , 125 ]), then caretaker oversight is required. But if breakable components are protected from direct contact and the puzzles are designed to be utilized independently (e.g., [ 56 , 124 ]), then the computer could theoretically be used even when a caretaker or trainer is not physically present.…”

An Ecological and Neural Argument for Developing Pursuit-Based Cognitive Enrichment for Sea Lions in Human Care

“…While some carnivores have shown high capability for these tasks [ 41 , 42 ], one cannot help but note the extent to which these types of interactions seem to be tailored to the primate hand and the types of physical interactions it allows. On a conceptually similar note, there is an increased interest in screen-based interactive “games” for primate enrichment [ 43 ], and this approach has recently been used very effectively with sea lions as well [ 44 ]. Clearly, these types of interventions have potential benefits for any vertebrate, inviting novel problem-solving behavior.…”

“…The long-term health benefits of specific enrichment approaches with animals are hard to measure, always being multi-factorial. We do have some evidence that sea lions tend to be remarkably persistent when faced with difficult cognitive challenges [ 5 ], and the innovative computer-based enrichment study discussed above [ 44 ] found that cognitive challenge was no deterrent to sea lions engaging with a device. There is evidence in bears, another canid carnivore, of “contrafreeloading” behavior [ 77 ], that is, choosing to engage in operant behavior to obtain food when other food is freely available [ 78 ], and we have seen similar behavior in captive sea lions.…”