Lifelong consequences of early nutritional conditions on learning performance in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata)

Early-life nutritional stress affects associative learning and spatial memory but not performance on a novel object test

“…Interestingly, the same birds in the study by Krause & Naguib (2011) that received low quality treatment and grew slower before reaching nutritional independence showed enhanced learning ability (Brust et al, 2014). Moreover, birds that grew slower before reaching nutritional independence were found to be bolder (i.e., required fewer trials to feed from a novel apparatus; Brust et al, 2014). However, these studies did not assess learning by birds that experienced nutritional stress during the period of nutritional independence, even though juveniles are likely to experience nutritional deficiencies at this age because they are still inefficient foragers (Nowicki et al, 1998).…”

“…Zebra finches that exhibited the most rapid increase in body mass compared to normally developing conspecifics after a period of nutritional deficit (i.e., compensatory growth) were less exploratory (Krause & Naguib, 2011) and slower to learn an associative learning task (Fisher et al, 2006). Interestingly, the same birds in the study by Krause & Naguib (2011) that received low quality treatment and grew slower before reaching nutritional independence showed enhanced learning ability (Brust et al, 2014). Moreover, birds that grew slower before reaching nutritional independence were found to be bolder (i.e., required fewer trials to feed from a novel apparatus; Brust et al, 2014).…”

“…Growth was included as a covariate in analyses of learning and boldness to test for previously reported relationships between these factors (Krause & Naguib, 2011;Brust et al, 2014). For analyses of associative learning, pre-and postindependence treatments, task type (colour or spatial), and all higher-order interactions were entered as fixed effects, with age at time of testing as a fixed covariate.…”

“…However, whether developmental stress can affect avian personalities is unclear, as the few studies that manipulate developmental conditions report mixed results (e.g., Carere et al, 2005;Arnold et al, 2007;Spencer & Verhulst, 2007;Krause & Naguib, 2011;Naguib et al, 2011). Furthermore, few studies have investigated whether nutritional stress in the juvenile phase (after nutritional independence) can also affect personality (Krause & Naguib, 2011), or tested whether nutritional stress can affect the relationship between personality and other cognitive functions (Arnold et al, 2007;Brust et al, 2014). Thus, more studies in songbirds are needed to test the hypothesis that stress after nutritional independence can affect both personality and learning.…”

Developmental Stress and Correlated Cognitive Traits in Songbirds

“…As males seem to be more consistent in exploration and boldness compared to females (Donaldson, 2009;Schuett & Dall, 2009), this indicates that females may be more behaviorally plastic than males. Last, because developmental stress can have such diverse effects, it would be beneficial to assess the relationship of boldness, exploration, and aggression with other behaviors that may be affected by stress, such as begging rates, song, and learning ability (Arnold et al, 2007;Brust, Krüger, Naguib, & Krause, 2014;Garamszegi, Eens, & Török, 2008;. Studies in this direction would address how developmental experiences, by altering behavioral tendencies, can affect behavioral plasticity.…”