The Relationship Between Foraging, Learning Abilities and Neophobia in Two Species of Darwin’s Finches

Abstract

The ability to unlearn a previously established association is an important component of behavioural flexibility and may vary according to species ecology. Previously, two closely related sympatric Darwin’s finches were found to differ in their learning abilities. Small tree finches (Camarhynchus parvulus) outperformed woodpecker finches (Cactospiza pallida) in reversal learning but performed worse in an operant task. We attributed this difference to the habit of woodpecker finches to engage in long bouts of energetic pecking during extractive foraging. Persistently repeating one action without reward could favour performance in operant tasks but also limit behavioural flexibility. Here, we tested whether perseverance is the reason for woodpecker finches’ depressed reversal learning performance. Two new reversal conditions allowed the disentanglement of two sources of error in reversal learning: perseverant choice of the previously rewarded stimulus and failure to respond to the previously non‐rewarded stimulus. For the within‐species comparison, we predicted that woodpecker finches should find it more difficult to learn to avoid the previously rewarded stimulus than learning to choose the previously non‐rewarded stimulus. For the species comparison, we predicted the woodpecker finches should make more errors of perseverance than small tree finches. As performance could also be influenced by reaction to novelty, we compared neophobic responses between species and related them to reversal learning proficiency. We found no significant difference in reversal learning in the predicted direction, but found a negative correlation between neophobia and reversal learning at the inter‐ and the intraspecific level, which points towards a general relationship between reaction to novelty and flexibility.

Stability of the guinea pigs personality – cognition – linkage over time

“…An analysis of the linkage between personality traits and performance in cognitive tasks in animals has recently started and to date some results are available across species (e.g. Benus et al 1987;Hopper et al 2014;Tebbich et al 2012;Verbeek et al 1994). …”

Individual variation in foraging behavior reveals a trade-off between flexibility and performance of a top predator

“…Tests of reversal learning are frequently used as one measure of an organism’s behavioral flexibility (Day et al 1999; Boogert et al 2010; Tebbich et al 2012). Traditionally, tests of reversal learning involve simultaneously presenting an individual with two stimuli, one that is associated with a reward and one that is not.…”

Migratory New World Blackbirds (Icterids) Are More Neophobic than Closely Related Resident Icterids

“…Such changes usually elicit initial avoidance (neophobia) which protects individuals from encountering dangerous situations [1], [2]. However, neophobia also delays getting in contact with valuable resources such as new food [3] (though the actual inclusion of a new food item in the diet is more influenced by dietary conservatism [4] than neophobia) and has been shown to delay learning [5], [6] and problem-solving [7]. It has also been identified as part of a larger complex of correlated behaviors known as behavioral syndromes or personality traits [8], [9].…”

“…Neophobia is known to differ between species (e.g. [10], [2], [6]) but despite the wide-ranging consequences of neophobia only few studies have ever investigated the underlying factors determining neophobia.…”