Social learning in a high-risk environment: incomplete disregard for the ‘minnow that cried pike’ results in culturally transmitted neophobia

Abstract

Many prey species rely on conspecifics to gather information about unknown predation threats, but little is known about the role of varying environmental conditions on the efficacy of social learning. We examined predator-naive minnows that had the opportunity to learn about predators from experienced models that were raised in either a low-or high-risk environment. There were striking differences in behaviour among models; high-risk models showed a weaker response to the predator cue and became neophobic in response to the control cue (a novel odour, NO). Observers that were previously paired with low-risk models acquired a strong antipredator response only to the predator cue. However, observers that interacted with high-risk models, displayed a much weaker response to the predator odour and a weak neophobic response to the NO. This is the first study reporting such different outcomes of social learning under different environmental conditions, and suggests high-risk environments promote the cultural transmission of neophobia more so than social learning. If such a transfer can be considered similar to secondary traumatization in humans, culturally transmitted neophobia in minnows may provide a good model system for understanding more about the social ecology of fear disorders.

The Achilles' heel hypothesis: misinformed keystone individuals impair collective learning and reduce group success

“…Such social learning has been noted in a variety of animal societies [17,18,[54][55][56][57] and has profound theoretical ramifications for how societies function [58]. In this study, we show that the effects of information quality on group performance differ based on the identity of its original bearer.…”

Largemouth bass use prior experience, but not information from experienced conspecifics, to avoid capture by anglers

“…When examining this finding, it is necessary to examine the necessary ingredients for socially learned avoidance to occur. Griffin () described the necessity of a “fear response” on the part of experienced individuals that naïve individuals could detect, and indeed specific anti‐predator behaviours (freezing, erratic swimming, the release of alarm cues) on the part of experienced individuals have been found to be key to learning as naïve individuals follow experienced individuals’ lead (Crane & Ferrari, ; Crane et al, ; Manassa & McCormick, , ). This process may not apply to the threat of angling, however, as experienced fish may avoid lures by simply ignoring them, without a pronounced fear response that is detectable by naïve observers.…”

“…Being in the presence of experienced individuals also facilitated improved avoidance behaviour in naïve guppies escaping a model trawl net (Brown & Laland, ), and naïve fishes have been shown to learn more quickly to associate predator odours with danger when they were placed together with individuals experienced with that predator (i.e. through observational conditioning, Crane, Mathiron, & Ferrari, ; Manassa & McCormick, ). Social learning has also been implicated in the avoidance of capture by humans engaged in recreational fishing.…”

Patterns of predator neophobia: a meta-analytic review

“…larger versus smaller lesions or longer versus shorter social isolation), making cross-treatment comparisons difficult. A few studies have compared neophobic responses induced by risk versus responses towards known predator cues, finding either similar outcomes [22,67] or that neophobic responses were weaker [22,68]. Table 1.…”