The effect of experience and olfactory cue in an inhibitory control task in guppies, Poecilia reticulata

Santacà, Maria; Busatta, Melania; Savaşçı, Beste Başak; Lucon‐Xiccato, Tyrone; Bisazza, Angelo

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.03.003

Cited by 17 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(31 reference statements)

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“…We found no effect of sex on performance detouring the semi-transparent cylinder, which is similar to what has been reported for pheasant chicks (van Horik et al 2018) but contrasts with results found in guppies (Lucon-Xiccato et al 2019). Furthermore, similar to previous studies, we found no effect of neophobia (Stow et al 2018;van Horik et al 2018) or pre-experience (Shaw 2017;Santacà et al 2019b) on individual task performance.…”

Section: Species-specific Performance In the Cylinder Tasksupporting

confidence: 88%

“…When such odor cues were eliminated, the species difference in performance disappeared (Santacà et al 2019a). Guppies, however, do not rely on olfactory cues to solve cylinder detour tasks (Santacà et al 2019b). The pattern shown by our lizards is inconsistent with the level of reliance on food chemicals.…”

Section: Differences Between Species In the Cylinder Taskmentioning

confidence: 54%

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Are lizards capable of inhibitory control? Performance on a semi-transparent version of the cylinder task in five species of Australian skinks

Szabo

Hoefer

Whiting

2020

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Inhibitory control, the inhibition of prepotent actions, is essential for higher-order cognitive processes such as planning, reasoning, and self-regulation. Individuals and species differ in inhibitory control. Identifying what influences inhibitory control ability within and between species is key to understanding how it evolved. We compared performance in the cylinder task across five lizard species: tree skinks (Egernia striolata), gidgee skinks (Egernia stokesii), eastern blue-tongue skinks (Tiliqua s. scincoides), sleepy lizards (Tiliqua r. asper), and eastern water skinks (Eulamprus quoyii). In our task, animals had to inhibit the prepotent motor response of directly approaching a reward placed within a semi-transparent mesh cylinder and instead reach in through the side openings. Additionally, in three lizard species, we compared performance in the cylinder task to reversal learning to determine the task specificity of inhibitory ability. Within species, neither sex, origin, body condition, neophobia, nor pre-experience with other cognitive tests affected individual performance. Species differed in motor response inhibition: Blue-tongue skinks made fewer contacts with the semi-transparent cylinder wall than all other species. Blue-tongue skinks also had lower body condition than the other species which suggest motivation as the underlying cause for species differences in task performance. Moreover, we found no correlation between inhibitory ability across different experiments. This is the first study comparing cylinder task performance among lizard species. Given that inhibitory control is probably widespread in lizards, motor response inhibition as exercised in the cylinder task appears to have a long evolutionary history and is likely fundamental to survival and fitness. Significance The study of lizard cognition is receiving increasing attention. Lizards are a diverse group with a wide range of ecological attributes and represent a model system through which we can test a wide range of hypotheses relating to cognitive evolution. Furthermore, considering their evolutionary history, studying non-avian reptile cognition can help understand the evolution of different cognitive abilities including inhibitory control. Here, we provide a comparison of inhibitory control ability in five lizard species. Consequently, we are able to, firstly, validate a method (the cylinder task) initially developed for the use in mammals and birds, for use in lizards, and secondly, collect valuable data on inhibitory control in a poorly studied group with respect to cognitive ability. Our study suggests non-cognitive factors as a major influence on cylinder task performance, which is in agreement with previous studies of other vertebrates.

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Section: Species-specific Performance In the Cylinder Tasksupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Differences Between Species In the Cylinder Taskmentioning

confidence: 54%

Are lizards capable of inhibitory control? Performance on a semi-transparent version of the cylinder task in five species of Australian skinks

Szabo

Hoefer

Whiting

2020

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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“…This setting allowed the zebrafish to see the prey but prevented the use of nonvisual sensory cues. A pilot experiment has revealed that absence of food olfactory cues in the tank did not detectably affect fish performance, in line with studies based on food rewards (Santacà et al ., 2019). The brine shrimp nauplii used as the stimulus prey were a type of food routinely provided to zebrafish during maintenance.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the barrier test is likely affected by social motivation (Etheredge et al ., 2018; Lucon‐Xiccato and Dadda, 2017), which varies among individual fish (Cattelan et al ., 2017; Pham et al ., 2012; Suriyampola et al ., 2016) and is altered by psychoactive substances (Araujo‐Silva et al ., 2018; Fontana et al ., 2018). An alternative procedure is the cylinder test (Keagy et al ., 2019; Lucon‐Xiccato et al ., 2017, 2020; Santacà et al ., 2019). The fish is first trained to enter an opaque cylinder to find a food reward; upon learning, the fish is presented with food inside a transparent cylinder.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The cylinder test is complex to execute and requires training each subject for several weeks. Moreover, it is potentially affected by olfactory cues that can guide the fish to the entrance of the cylinder (Santacà et al ., 2019). In a third inhibitory control task developed for fish (hereafter, the tube task), the subject is presented with live prey, brine shrimp nauplii, sealed inside a transparent tube.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inhibitory control in zebrafish, Danio rerio

Lucon‐Xiccato

Bertolucci

2020

Journal of Fish Biology

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We assessed whether zebrafish, Danio rerio, display inhibitory control using a simple and rapid behavioural test. Zebrafish were exposed to a prey stimulus placed inside a transparent tube, which initially elicited attack behaviour. However, zebrafish showed a rapid reduction in the number of attacks towards the prey, which indicated the ability to inhibit their foraging behaviour. Zebrafish also exhibited mnemonic retention of foraging inhibition, as indicated by a reduced number of attacks in a subsequent exposure to the unreachable prey. The ability to inhibit the foraging behaviour varied across three genetically separated wild-type strains and across different individuals within strains, suggesting that zebrafish show heritable within-species differences in inhibitory control. Our behavioural test might be suitable for screening large zebrafish populations in mutational studies and assessing the effects of pharmacologically active substances on inhibitory control.

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Cognitive flexibility in a Tanganyikan bower-building cichlid, Aulonocranus dewindti

Tomasek,

Stark,

Dufour

et al. 2023

Anim Cogn

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Cognitive flexibility, the ability to modify one’s decision rules to adapt to a new situation, has been extensively studied in many species. In fish, though, data on cognitive flexibility are scarce, especially in the wild. We studied a lekking species of cichlid fish in Lake Tanganyika, Aulonocranus dewindti. Males create sand bowers as spawning sites and maintain them by removing any objects falling into it. In the first part of our experiment, we investigated the existence of spontaneous decision rules for the maintenance of the bowers. We showed that if a snail shell and a stone are placed in their bower, fish prefer to remove the shell first. In the second phase of our experiment, we took advantage of this spontaneous decision rule to investigate whether this rule was flexible. We tested five individuals in a choice against preference task, in which the fish had to modify their preference rule and remove the stone first to be allowed to then remove the shell and have a clean bower. While there was no overall trend towards flexibility in this task, there was variation at an individual level. Some individuals increased their preference for removing the shell first, deciding quickly and with little exploration of the objects. Others were more successful at choosing against preference and showed behaviours suggesting self-regulatory inhibition abilities. Bower-building cichlids could therefore be a promising model to study cognitive flexibility, and other aspects of animal cognition in the wild.

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The effect of experience and olfactory cue in an inhibitory control task in guppies, Poecilia reticulata

Cited by 17 publications

References 33 publications

Are lizards capable of inhibitory control? Performance on a semi-transparent version of the cylinder task in five species of Australian skinks

Are lizards capable of inhibitory control? Performance on a semi-transparent version of the cylinder task in five species of Australian skinks

Inhibitory control in zebrafish, Danio rerio

Cognitive flexibility in a Tanganyikan bower-building cichlid, Aulonocranus dewindti

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