Testing cognition in the wild: factors affecting performance and individual consistency in two measures of avian cognition

Shaw, Rachael C.

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2016.06.004

Cited by 87 publications

(106 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The males’ sharing choices in the food-sharing experiment followed a similar pattern to the females’ choices in the specific satiety experiment. However, it is possible that males had a preference for eating M (as they had more prior experience with this food 19, 20 ) and that this affected their ability to cater to their mate’s current desire, as males shared a larger proportion of W than a female was likely to have chosen for herself after eating W (this difference is evident in a comparison of the pre-fed W trials in Fig. 1b and c).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1a). Robins were habituated to the presence of the experimenters 19, 20 and were already familiar with this apparatus 19 . The female could reach into the open end of a tube to retrieve food.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, as both W and M were presented simultaneously during the test phase, in both the specific satiety experiment and the food sharing experiment described below we instead ensured that the total number and item size of each food type were as closely matched as possible. All robins were familiar with M 19, 20 , but had never encountered W. We therefore gave each robin 1 W at least one day prior to their first experiment, to ensure that both males and females were familiar with W and would consume it.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sharing occurs both during courtship and to provision the female while she alone builds the nest and incubates 18 . In addition, wild robins are boldly curious and will readily interact with humans and experimental apparatuses 19, 20 . Thus robins provide an ideal opportunity to evaluate whether males can flexibly adjust both the type and quantity of food shared in response to changing female desire and nutritional need in the wild.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Male New Zealand robins (Petroica longipes) cater to their mate’s desire when sharing food in the wild

Shaw

MacKinlay

Clayton

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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In many species that have bi-parental care, food-sharing males provide vital nutritional resources to their mates during reproduction. However, it is currently unknown whether females can signal specific desires to their mates, or if males can cater to female desire in the wild. Here we investigate whether and how wild male North Island robins (Petroica longipes) respond to changes in their mates' desires and nutritional need when sharing food. We demonstrate that wild female robins' desire for particular foods changes over short time periods; when given the choice between two types of insect larvae, females prefer the type they have not recently eaten. In our experiments, wild male robins preferentially shared the larvae type that their mate was most likely to desire and also increased the quantity of food shared if she had begun incubating. Males catered to their mates' desire when female behaviour was the only cue available to guide their choices. This is the first evidence that females may behaviourally communicate their specific food desires to their mates, enabling males to cater to fine-scale changes in their mates' nutritional requirements in the wild. Such a simple behaviour-reading mechanism has the potential to be widespread among other food-sharing species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Male New Zealand robins (Petroica longipes) cater to their mate’s desire when sharing food in the wild

Shaw

MacKinlay

Clayton

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

Self Cite

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“…These findings suggest that other processes of learning 55 may mediate performances across repeated trials on these tasks, potentially 56 confounding reliable assays of IC. Accordingly, controlled studies, using animal (Shaw, 2017). These findings suggest that capacities 74 for IC, obtained from detour tasks, may suffer from task impurity.…”

Section: Introduction 43mentioning

confidence: 88%

Response learning confounds assays of inhibitory control on detour tasks

Horik

Beardsworth²,

Laker³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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The ability to inhibit prepotent actions towards rewards that are made 14 inaccessible by transparent barriers has been considered to reflect capacities for 15 inhibitory control (IC). Typically, subjects initially reach directly, and incorrectly, for the 16 reward. With experience, subjects may inhibit this action and instead detour around 17 barriers to access the reward. However, assays of IC are often measured across 18 multiple trials, with the location of the reward remaining constant. Consequently, other 19 cognitive processes, such as response learning (acquisition of a motor routine), may 20 confound accurate assays of IC. We measured baseline IC capacities in pheasant 21 chicks, Phasianus colchicus, using a transparent cylinder task. Birds were then divided 22Consequently, non-target cognitive processes associated with different neural 35 substrates appear to underlie performances on detour tasks, which may confound 36 accurate assays of IC. Our findings question the construct validity of a commonly used 37 paradigm that is widely considered to assess capacities for IC in humans and other 38 animals. 39 40 Key Words: Cylinder Task, Detour Task, Executive Functions, Motor Routine 41 42 models, suggest that the cognitive constructs that underlie performances on some 58 commonly used IC tasks remain unclear Völter, Tinklenberg, 59 Call, & Seed, 2018). 60 61A broad comparative study involving 567 individuals from 36 species found superior 62 performances on IC tasks among anthropoid apes, leading to the notion that large 63 absolute brain size was a good predictor of IC capacity . 64However, subtle differences in test procedures have recently revealed that numerous 65 species show IC performances that are comparable to those anthropoid apes reported 66 by MacLean and colleagues (2014), even despite possessing a relatively smaller 67 absolute brain size

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Problem solving in fawn‐footed mosaic‐tailed rats Melomys cervinipes is not significantly influenced by maternal care or genetic effects

Rowell

Rymer

2022

J Exp Zool Pt A

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Innovative problem solving is thought to be a flexible trait that allows animals to adjust to changing or challenging environmental conditions. However, it is not known how problem solving develops during an animal's early life, or whether it may have a heritable component. We investigated whether maternal genetic and nongenetic effects influenced problem‐solving ability in a native Australian rodent, the fawn‐footed mosaic‐tailed rat Melomys cervinipes. We measured direct (time spent grooming and huddling), indirect (time spent nesting), and total amount of maternal care received across pup development (postnatal Days 1–13). We measured problem solving in juveniles using matchbox tasks, and in mothers and adult offspring using six tasks of varying complexity (matchbox, cylinder, obstruction, pillar, tile, and lever tasks). We found no relationship between any maternal care measures and problem‐solving abilities across multiple tests, suggesting limited (if any) maternal nongenetic effects. We also found that, as shown by low heritability estimates, problem solving only had a small heritable component in some tasks, but this was nonsignificant and requires further investigation. These results suggest that problem solving is unlikely to be constrained by maternal effects experienced during early development, and is, instead, more likely to be influenced by other factors (e.g., experience) later in an individual's lifetime.

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Testing cognition in the wild: factors affecting performance and individual consistency in two measures of avian cognition

Cited by 87 publications

References 19 publications

Male New Zealand robins (Petroica longipes) cater to their mate’s desire when sharing food in the wild

Male New Zealand robins (Petroica longipes) cater to their mate’s desire when sharing food in the wild

Response learning confounds assays of inhibitory control on detour tasks

Problem solving in fawn‐footed mosaic‐tailed rats Melomys cervinipes is not significantly influenced by maternal care or genetic effects

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