Song repertoire size in male song sparrows correlates with detour reaching, but not with other cognitive measures

Boogert, Neeltje J.; Anderson, Rindy C.; Peters, Susan; Searcy, William A.; Nowicki, Stephen

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.03.004

Cited by 193 publications

(258 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…In humans, self-control has been linked to health, economic, social, and academic achievement, and is known to be heritable (170)(171)(172). In song sparrows, a study using one of the tasks reported here found a correlation between self-control and song repertoire size, a predictor of fitness in this species (173). In primates, performance on a series of nonsocial self-control control tasks was related to variability in social systems (174), illustrating the potential link between these skills and socioecology.…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 95%

The evolution of self-control

MacLean¹,

Hare

Nunn³

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

652

708

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Cognition presents evolutionary research with one of its greatest challenges. Cognitive evolution has been explained at the proximate level by shifts in absolute and relative brain volume and at the ultimate level by differences in social and dietary complexity. However, no study has integrated the experimental and phylogenetic approach at the scale required to rigorously test these explanations. Instead, previous research has largely relied on various measures of brain size as proxies for cognitive abilities. We experimentally evaluated these major evolutionary explanations by quantitatively comparing the cognitive performance of 567 individuals representing 36 species on two problem-solving tasks measuring self-control. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that absolute brain volume best predicted performance across species and accounted for considerably more variance than brain volume controlling for body mass. This result corroborates recent advances in evolutionary neurobiology and illustrates the cognitive consequences of cortical reorganization through increases in brain volume. Within primates, dietary breadth but not social group size was a strong predictor of species differences in self-control. Our results implicate robust evolutionary relationships between dietary breadth, absolute brain volume, and self-control. These findings provide a significant first step toward quantifying the primate cognitive phenome and explaining the process of cognitive evolution.psychology | behavior | comparative methods | inhibitory control | executive function S ince Darwin, understanding the evolution of cognition has been widely regarded as one of the greatest challenges for evolutionary research (1). Although researchers have identified surprising cognitive flexibility in a range of species (2-40) and potentially derived features of human psychology (41-61), we know much less about the major forces shaping cognitive evolution (62-71). With the notable exception of Bitterman's landmark studies conducted several decades ago (63, 72-74), most research comparing cognition across species has been limited to small taxonomic samples (70, 75). With limited comparable experimental data on how cognition varies across species, previous research has largely relied on proxies for cognition (e.g., brain size) or metaanalyses when testing hypotheses about cognitive evolution (76-92). The lack of cognitive data collected with similar methods across large samples of species precludes meaningful species comparisons that can reveal the major forces shaping cognitive evolution across species, including humans (48,70,89,(93)(94)(95)(96)(97)(98). SignificanceAlthough scientists have identified surprising cognitive flexibility in animals and potentially unique features of human psychology, we know less about the selective forces that favor cognitive evolution, or the proximate biological mechanisms underlying this process. We tested 36 species in two problemsolving tasks measuring self-control and evaluated the leading hypotheses regarding how ...

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Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 95%

The evolution of self-control

MacLean¹,

Hare

Nunn³

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

652

708

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The behavioural paradigm used in our experiment is similar to that used in studies evaluating cognitive abilities of birds (e.g. [10,14]), which provides an opportunity to evaluate similarities and/or differences in cognitive performance across the two groups [4]. However, because distinct taxa might perceive the same cognitive task differently, we only explore the most basic aspect of the task: number of presentations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this case, studies have addressed a variety of cognitive modules, such as flexibility of motor skills, spatial learning, associative learning and reversal learning (see [1,7] and references therein). In studies in which multiple cognitive tasks have been used, results indicate that the ability of an individual to solve one cognitive task is not a predictor of success across multiple cognitive tasks [9,10]. Thus, a robust demonstration of behavioural flexibility should show that individuals are capable of solving multiple cognitive tasks, an approach that is not commonly used, especially in ectothermic vertebrates (see [11,12] and references therein).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioural flexibility and problem-solving in a tropical lizard

2011

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The role of behavioural flexibility in responding to new or changing environmental challenges is a central theme in cognitive ecology. Studies of behavioural flexibility have focused mostly on mammals and birds because theory predicts that behavioural flexibility is favoured in species or clades that exploit a diversity of habitats or food sources and/or have complex social structure, attributes not associated with ectothermic vertebrates. Here, we present the results of a series of experiments designed to test cognitive abilities across multiple cognitive modules in a tropical arboreal lizard: Anolis evermanni. This lizard shows behavioural flexibility across multiple cognitive tasks, including solving a novel motor task using multiple strategies and reversal learning, as well as rapid associative learning. This flexibility was unexpected because lizards are commonly believed to have limited cognitive abilities and highly stereotyped behaviour. Our findings indicate that the cognitive abilities of A. evermanni are comparable with those of some endothermic species that are recognized to be highly flexible, and strongly suggest a re-thinking of our understanding of the cognitive abilities of ectothermic tetrapods and of the factors favouring the evolution of behavioural flexibility.

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“…Consequently, males that experience relatively benign developmental conditions, or whose genotypes confer resilience to stressors, tend to learn songs that are more attractive to females and have elevated reproductive success [79]. There is also some evidence to suggest that good singers may perform better on foraging tasks, raising the possibility that song-learning may be related to other cognitive traits [43]. Beyond song learning, the most compelling evidence for a relationship between mate choice and cognition comes from a recent study on satin bower birds (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus).…”

Section: Individual Variation and The Evolution Of Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two recent field experiments on birds found no clear intercorrelations between tasks [41,42], while in song sparrows Melospiza melodia, individual song repertoire size (an indicator of vocal learning ability) correlated positively with performance on a laboratory test of inhibitory control, but not with performance on a motor task, colour association learning or reversal learning [43]. More standardized test batteries showed evidence for a g factor accounting for more than 30 per cent of variance in performance in mice (Mus musculus; reviewed in [44]), and weaker but statistically significant effects in cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) [45].…”

Section: Individual Variation and General Intelligencementioning

confidence: 99%

Individual variation in cognitive performance: developmental and evolutionary perspectives

Thornton

Lukas

2012

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

294

239

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Animal cognition experiments frequently reveal striking individual variation but rarely consider its causes and largely ignore its potential consequences. Studies often focus on a subset of high-performing subjects, sometimes viewing evidence from a single individual as sufficient to demonstrate the cognitive capacity of a species. We argue that the emphasis on demonstrating species-level cognitive capacities detracts from the value of individual variation in understanding cognitive development and evolution. We consider developmental and evolutionary interpretations of individual variation and use metaanalyses of data from published studies to examine predictors of individual performance. We show that reliance on small sample sizes precludes robust conclusions about individual abilities as well as inter-and intraspecific differences. We advocate standardization of experimental protocols and pooling of data between laboratories to improve statistical rigour. Our analyses show that cognitive performance is influenced by age, sex, rearing conditions and previous experience. These effects limit the validity of comparative analyses unless developmental histories are taken into account, and complicate attempts to understand how cognitive traits are expressed and selected under natural conditions. Further understanding of cognitive evolution requires efforts to elucidate the heritability of cognitive traits and establish whether elevated cognitive performance confers fitness advantages in nature.

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Song repertoire size in male song sparrows correlates with detour reaching, but not with other cognitive measures

Cited by 193 publications

References 69 publications

The evolution of self-control

The evolution of self-control

Behavioural flexibility and problem-solving in a tropical lizard

Individual variation in cognitive performance: developmental and evolutionary perspectives

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