Cognition in Context: Plasticity in Cognitive Performance in Response to Ongoing Environmental Variables

Cauchoix, Maxime; Chaine, Alexis S.; Barragan‐Jason, Gladys

doi:10.3389/fevo.2020.00106

Cited by 23 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 95 publications

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“…We propose three steps: (1) determine the temperature‐dependence of cognitive traits in the wild, (2) link variation in cognitive performance to behavioral responses and fitness measures, (3) integrate critical temperature thresholds for cognitive decline into models of population viability under future climate scenarios. Finally, we suggest potential applications to wildlife management and conservation (Ashton et al, 2018, 2019; Barroso et al, 2020; Batabyal & Thaker, 2019; Brakes et al, 2019; Cauchoix et al, 2020; Culina et al, 2020; Dzialowski, 2005; Krochmal et al, 2018; Li et al, 2020; McCafferty et al, 2015; Morand‐Ferron et al, 2016; Salvanes et al, 2013; Shaw & Schmelz, 2017; Shilpa et al, 2017)…”

Section: A Framework For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Ideally, “heat stress” and “non‐heat stress” cognitive tests should be paired close in time to reduce potential confounding effects of seasonality on cognitive performance, such as changes in food availability or hormone levels (Maille & Schradin, 2017; Carbia & Brown, 2020). Finally, testing the repeatability of cognitive performance within versus between conditions allows researchers to determine whether cognitive performance under heat stress deviates beyond natural variation in task performance (Cauchoix et al, 2020).…”

Section: A Framework For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The impacts of heat stress on animal cognition: Implications for adaptation to a changing climate

Soravia

Ashton

Thornton

et al. 2021

WIREs Climate Change

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With global surface air temperature rising rapidly, extensive research effort has been dedicated to assessing the consequences of this change for wildlife. While impacts on the phenology, distribution, and demography of wild animal populations are well documented, the impact of increasing temperature on cognition in these populations has received relatively little attention. Cognition encompasses the mental mechanisms that allow individuals to process information from the surrounding environment, respond accordingly, and flexibly adjust behavior. Hence, it is likely to be a key factor in allowing animals to adjust adaptively to climate change. Captive studies show that heat stress can negatively affect cognitive performance not only in the short‐term but also in the long‐term, by altering cognitive development at early life stages. Field studies indicate that cognitive performance may affect survival and reproductive success. However, the link between heat stress, cognition, and fitness in wild animals has yet to be formally established. We propose a comprehensive research framework for the collection of robust empirical datasets on heat stress and cognitive performance in the wild. We then suggest how knowledge of heat stress impacts on cognitive performance could be applied to population viability models and wildlife management actions. We believe that a joint research effort encompassing the fields of thermal physiology, behavioral ecology, comparative cognition, and conservation science, is essential to provide timely mitigation measures against the potential impacts of climate change on wildlife. This article is categorized under: Climate, Ecology, and Conservation > Observed Ecological Changes

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Section: A Framework For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: A Framework For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impacts of heat stress on animal cognition: Implications for adaptation to a changing climate

Soravia

Ashton

Thornton

et al. 2021

WIREs Climate Change

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Previous reviews have noted contradictory ideas regarding the importance of intervention length, including suggestions that exposures lasting as little as 10 days can have clear effects (Rosenzweig & Bennett, 1977), that lifelong exposure results in the most pronounced effects (Kobayashi, Ohashi & Ando, 2002), that exposures to enrichment over 30 days provides no additional effects (Sampedro-Piquero & Begega, 2016), and that daily exposure of a few hours can create equivalent effects to constant enrichment exposure in rats (Widman & Rosellini, 1990;Sampedro-Piquero & Begega, 2016). Indeed, there is evidence that the social and asocial conditions in which animals are tested may have significant effects on cognitive performance (Cauchoix, Chaine & Barragan-Jason, 2020). Our meta-analysis supports a clear effect of length of the intervention on effect size and finds that shorter interventions might be predicted to have minimal impacts on learning abilities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of environmental and social factors on learning abilities: a meta‐analysis

Lambert

Guillette

2021

Biological Reviews

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Since the 1950s, researchers have examined how differences in the social and asocial environment affect learning in rats, mice, and, more recently, a variety of other species. Despite this large body of research, little has been done to synthesize these findings and to examine if social and asocial environmental factors have consistent effects on cognitive abilities, and if so, what aspects of these factors have greater or lesser impact. Here, we conducted a systematic review and metaanalysis examining how different external environmental features, including the social environment, impact learning (both speed of acquisition and performance). Using 531 mean-differences from 176 published articles across 27 species (with studies on rats and mice being most prominent) we conducted phylogenetically corrected mixed-effects models that reveal: (i) an average absolute effect size jdj = 0.55 and directional effect size d = 0.34; (ii) interventions manipulating the asocial environment result in larger effects than social interventions alone; and (iii) the length of the intervention is a significant predictor of effect size, with longer interventions resulting in larger effects. Additionally, much of the variation in effect size remained unexplained, possibly suggesting that species differ widely in how they are affected by environmental interventions due to varying ecological and evolutionary histories. Overall our results suggest that social and asocial environmental factors do significantly affect learning, but these effects are highly variable and perhaps not always as predicted. Most notably, the type (social or asocial) and length of interventions are important in determining the strength of the effect.

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“…Although reliability is synonymous with the term ‘repeatability’, which refers to consistent individual differences in the behavior of non-human animals 12 , we use reliability because it is a well-defined psychometric term used in diverse literatures on individual differences in psychological traits, including cognitive abilities in both humans and non-human animals. It is especially important to demonstrate reliability of measures reflecting animal cognition in the wild, because there are many potential sources of error, including both external factors (e.g., weather, presence of conspecifics) and internal factors (e.g., hunger, stress) 9 , 13 – 15 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovative problem-solving in wild hyenas is reliable across time and contexts

Johnson-Ulrich

Holekamp

Hambrick

2020

Sci Rep

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Individual differences in behavior are the raw material upon which natural selection acts, but despite increasing recognition of the value of considering individual differences in the behavior of wild animals to test evolutionary hypotheses, this approach has only recently become popular for testing cognitive abilities. In order for the intraspecific approach with wild animals to be useful for testing evolutionary hypotheses about cognition, researchers must provide evidence that measures of cognitive ability obtained from wild subjects reflect stable, general traits. Here, we used a multi-access box paradigm to investigate the intra-individual reliability of innovative problem-solving ability across time and contexts in wild spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta). We also asked whether estimates of reliability were affected by factors such as age-sex class, the length of the interval between tests, or the number of times subjects were tested. We found significant contextual and temporal reliability for problemsolving. However, problem-solving was not reliable for adult subjects, when trials were separated by more than 17 days, or when fewer than seven trials were conducted per subject. In general, the estimates of reliability for problem-solving were comparable to estimates from the literature for other animal behaviors, which suggests that problem-solving is a stable, general trait in wild spotted hyenas.

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Cognition in Context: Plasticity in Cognitive Performance in Response to Ongoing Environmental Variables

Cited by 23 publications

References 95 publications

The impacts of heat stress on animal cognition: Implications for adaptation to a changing climate

The impacts of heat stress on animal cognition: Implications for adaptation to a changing climate

The impact of environmental and social factors on learning abilities: a meta‐analysis

Innovative problem-solving in wild hyenas is reliable across time and contexts

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