Personality affects learning performance in difficult tasks in a sex-dependent way

Titulaer, Mieke; Oers, Kees van; Naguib, Marc

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.12.020

Cited by 115 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Previously we found no link between EB and PSP in our population, albeit with a smaller sample size [81], though EB has been linked to cognitive traits in some tit populations [86,87].…”

Section: (A) the Study Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental and genetic determinants of innovativeness in a natural population of birds

Quinn

Cole

Reed

et al. 2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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One contribution of 15 to a theme issue 'Innovation in animals and humans: understanding the origins and development of novel and creative behaviour'. Much of the evidence for the idea that individuals differ in their propensity to innovate and solve new problems has come from studies on captive primates. Increasingly, behavioural ecologists are studying innovativeness in wild populations, and uncovering links with functional behaviour and fitnessrelated traits. The relative importance of genetic and environmental factors in driving this variation, however, remains unknown. Here, we present the results of the first large-scale study to examine a range of causal factors underlying innovative problem-solving performance (PSP) among 831 great tits (Parus major) temporarily taken into captivity. Analyses show that PSP in this population: (i) was linked to a variety of individual factors, including age, personality and natal origin (immigrant or local-born); (ii) was influenced by natal environment, because individuals had a lower PSP when born in poor-quality habitat, or where local population density was high, leading to cohort effects. Links with many of the individual and environmental factors were present only in some years. In addition, PSP (iii) had little or no measurable heritability, as estimated by a Bayesian animal model; and (iv) was not influenced by maternal effects. Despite previous reports of links between PSP and a range of functional traits in this population, the analyses here suggest that innovativeness had weak if any evolutionary potential. Instead most individual variation was caused by phenotypic plasticity driven by links with other behavioural traits and by environmentally mediated developmental stress. Heritability estimates are population, time and context specific, however, and more studies are needed to determine the generality of these effects. Our results shed light on the causes of innovativeness within populations, and add to the debate on the relative importance of genetic and environmental factors in driving phenotypic variation within populations.

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“…Previously we found no link between EB and PSP in our population, albeit with a smaller sample size [81], though EB has been linked to cognitive traits in some tit populations [86,87].…”

Section: (A) the Study Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental and genetic determinants of innovativeness in a natural population of birds

Quinn

Cole

Reed

et al. 2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…In contrast to the idea of a general learning ability, studies examining performance on independent tasks have found evidence suggesting that the nature of the relationship between cognition and exploration is task dependent (Table 1, column headed: Outcome) and, in at least one case, sex-dependent (Titulaer et al, 2012). For example, Fast-explorers learn new appetitive tasks more quickly than slow-explorers (black-capped chickadees Poecile atricapillus Guillette et al, 2009; Panamanian bishop fish Brachyrhaphis episcopi DePasquale et al, 2014), whereas slow-explorers perform better than fast-explorers on reversal learning (black-capped chickadees Guillette et al, 2011;great tits Verbeek et al, 1994; but see Amy et al 2012 where the oppostie was found in great tits) or avoidance learning tasks (great tits Exnerová et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fast- and slow-exploring pigeons differ in how they use previously learned rules

Guillette

Baron

Sturdy

2017

Behavioural Processes

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Please cite this article as: Guillette, L.M., Baron, D.M., Sturdy, C.B., Spetch, M.L., Fastand slow-exploring pigeons differ in how they use previously learned rules.Behavioural Processes http://dx.doi.org/10. 1016/j.beproc.2016.07.006 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. AbstractSeveral studies report a correlation between exploratory behaviour and performance on tests of cognitive ability. Exploration may influence learning because less exploratory animals are less likely to come in contact with to-be-learned stimuli. Alternatively, the way information available in the environment is processed could influence the rate of exploration. Pigeons are one of the most-studied species used to examine the mechanisms underlying cognitive abilities, but have not been used to examine the relationship between these abilities and animal personality. Here, twelve pigeons were first tested in a novel environment to assess repeatability in exploratory behaviour. Pigeons were then trained to discriminate between two visual stimuli: lines oriented at 90° (vertical, the S+) and 135° (the S-). After training pigeons underwent generalization testing with ten additional visual line orientation stimuli. We found exploratory behaviour was related to generalization performance: fast-explorers had steeper generalization gradients compared to slow-explorers. This effect was only seen in the direction towards the S-. These results suggest that birds with different exploratory styles differ in how they use previously learned information. Further testing is needed to confirm which cue(s) (S+ or S-) control the behaviour of fast-explorers.

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“…Even less information is available about sex differences in personality traits, which have been documented in only a handful of fish and bird species [26][27][28][29]. Finally, scarcely any attention at all has been paid to studying sexual differences in the existence and form of cognitive-behavioural types [24,30], despite the fact that there are sound theoretical reasons to expect them. In the context of the risk-reward hypothesis, for example, males may frequently be forced to adopt more risky reproductive strategies than females because of their different sexual roles, and this could lead to general sex differences in learning, personality traits and their covariation [31].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The sexes will frequently experience different environmental complexity and/or variability as a consequence of their different reproductive strategies, which are likely to drive differences in both cognitive and non-cognitive traits, and in the way they covary [24][25][26]. However, while sex differences in learning have been well documented in some taxa [3], they have been completely neglected in others, such as lizards (and reptiles at large).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex and boldness explain individual differences in spatial learning in a lizard

et al. 2014

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Understanding individual differences in cognitive performance is a major challenge to animal behaviour and cognition studies. We used the Eastern water skink (Eulamprus quoyii) to examine associations between exploration, boldness and individual variability in spatial learning, a dimension of lizard cognition with important bearing on fitness. We show that males perform better than females in a biologically relevant spatial learning task. This is the first evidence for sex differences in learning in a reptile, and we argue that it is probably owing to sex-specific selective pressures that may be widespread in lizards. Across the sexes, we found a clear association between boldness after a simulated predatory attack and the probability of learning the spatial task. In contrast to previous studies, we found a nonlinear association between boldness and learning: both 'bold' and 'shy' behavioural types were more successful learners than intermediate males. Our results do not fit with recent predictions suggesting that individual differences in learning may be linked with behavioural types via high -low-risk/reward trade-offs. We suggest the possibility that differences in spatial cognitive performance may arise in lizards as a consequence of the distinct environmental variability and complexity experienced by individuals as a result of their sex and social tactics.

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Personality affects learning performance in difficult tasks in a sex-dependent way

Cited by 115 publications

References 48 publications

Environmental and genetic determinants of innovativeness in a natural population of birds

Environmental and genetic determinants of innovativeness in a natural population of birds

Fast- and slow-exploring pigeons differ in how they use previously learned rules

Sex and boldness explain individual differences in spatial learning in a lizard

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