Wild cognition – linking form and function of cognitive abilities within a natural context

Szabo, Birgit; Valencia-Aguilar, Anyelet; Damas-Moreira, Isabel; Ringler, Eva

doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2022.101115

Cited by 23 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 43 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The mental mechanisms through which animals acquire, process, store and act on information from the environment represent animal cognition [ 1 ]. Animals use cognitive mechanisms to adjust their behavioural responses to the environmental and social context, remember the location of resources, and learn which environmental cues indicate presence of food, mates or predators [ 2 ]. Different animal species rely on cognitive mechanisms to different extents to solve ecological problems (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

General cognitive performance declines with female age and is negatively related to fledging success in a wild bird

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Identifying the causes and fitness consequences of intraspecific variation in cognitive performance is fundamental to understand how cognition evolves. Selection may act on different cognitive traits separately or jointly as part of the general cognitive performance (GCP) of the individual. To date, few studies have examined simultaneously whether individual cognitive performance covaries across different cognitive tasks, the relative importance of individual and social attributes in determining cognitive variation, and its fitness consequences in the wild. Here, we tested 38 wild southern pied babblers ( Turdoides bicolor ) on a cognitive test battery targeting associative learning, reversal learning and inhibitory control. We found that a single factor explained 59.5% of the variation in individual cognitive performance across tasks, suggestive of a general cognitive factor. GCP varied by age and sex; declining with age in females but not males. Older females also tended to produce a higher average number of fledglings per year compared to younger females. Analysing over 10 years of breeding data, we found that individuals with lower general cognitive performance produced more fledglings per year. Collectively, our findings support the existence of a trade-off between cognitive performance and reproductive success in a wild bird.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

General cognitive performance declines with female age and is negatively related to fledging success in a wild bird

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In general, there is a dire need to better understand how cognition measures in the lab relate to ecological relevant behavior in the wild (De Meester and Baeckens 2021; Szabo et al. 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning with lacertids: Studying the link between ecology and cognition within a comparative framework

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cognition is an essential tool for animals to deal with environmental challenges. Nonetheless, the ecological forces driving the evolution of cognition throughout the animal kingdom remain enigmatic. Large-scale comparative studies on multiple species and cognitive traits have been advanced as the best way to facilitate our understanding of cognitive evolution, but such studies are rare. Here, we tested 13 species of lacertid lizards (Reptilia: Lacertidae) using a battery of cognitive tests measuring inhibitory control, problem-solving, and spatial and reversal learning. Next, we tested the relationship between species' performance and (a) resource availability (temperature and precipitation), habitat complexity (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), and habitat variability (seasonality) in their natural habitat and (b) their life history (size at hatching and maturity, clutch size, and frequency). Although species differed markedly in their cognitive abilities, such variation was mostly unrelated to their ecology and life history. Yet, species living in more variable environments exhibited lower behavioral flexibility, likely due to energetic constrains in such habitats. Our standardized protocols provide opportunities for collaborative research, allowing increased sample sizes and replication, essential for moving forward in the field of comparative cognition. Follow-up studies could include more detailed measures of habitat structure and look at other potential selective drivers such as predation.

show abstract

“…The cognitive test battery consisted of three tasks designed to quantify (1) associative learning, (2) reversal learning, (3) inhibitory control. These cognitive tasks tapped into the natural terrestrial foraging behaviour of babblers [45], as they required them to peck downwards at a lid or move around a barrier on the ground to retrieve a food reward: a mealworm (Tenebrio molitor larva).…”

Section: Cognitive Test Batterymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here, we tested wild adult southern pied babblers (hereafter "babblers", Turdoides bicolor) on a psychometric test battery containing three tasks designed to quantify (1) associative learning, (2) reversal learning, (3) inhibitory control. These are well-studied cognitive traits that span different domains [38,42].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

General cognitive performance declines with female age and is negatively related to fledging success in a wild bird

Soravia

Ashton

Thornton

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Identifying the causes and fitness consequences of intraspecific variation in cognitive performance is fundamental to understand how cognition evolves. Selection may act on different cognitive traits separately or jointly as part of the general cognitive performance of the individual. To date, few studies have examined simultaneously whether individual cognitive performance covaries across different cognitive tasks, the relative importance of individual and social attributes in determining cognitive variation, and its fitness consequences in the wild. Here, we tested 38 wild southern pied babblers (Turdoides bicolor) on a cognitive test battery targeting associative learning, reversal learning and inhibitory control. We found that a single factor explained 59.5% of the variation in individual cognitive performance across tasks, suggestive of a general cognitive factor. General cognitive performance varied by age and sex; declining with age in females but not males. Older females also tended to produce a higher average number of fledglings per year compared to younger females. Analysing over 10 years of breeding data, we found that individuals with lower general cognitive performance produced more fledglings per year. Collectively, our findings support the existence of a trade-off between cognitive performance and reproductive success in a wild bird.

show abstract

Wild cognition – linking form and function of cognitive abilities within a natural context

Cited by 23 publications

References 43 publications

General cognitive performance declines with female age and is negatively related to fledging success in a wild bird

General cognitive performance declines with female age and is negatively related to fledging success in a wild bird

Learning with lacertids: Studying the link between ecology and cognition within a comparative framework

General cognitive performance declines with female age and is negatively related to fledging success in a wild bird

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About