Behavioral flexibility and problem solving in an invasive bird.

Corina J Logan

doi:10.7717/peerj.1975

Abstract

Behavioral flexibility is considered an important trait for adapting to environmental change, but it is unclear what it is, how it works, and whether it is a problem solving ability. I investigated behavioral flexibility and problem solving experimentally in great-tailed grackles, an invasive bird species and thus a likely candidate for possessing behavioral flexibility. Grackles demonstrated behavioral flexibility in two contexts, the Aesop’s Fable paradigm and a color association test. Contrary to predictions, behavioral flexibility did not correlate across contexts. Four out of 6 grackles exhibited efficient problem solving abilities, but problem solving efficiency did not appear to be directly linked with behavioral flexibility. Problem solving speed also did not significantly correlate with reversal learning scores, indicating that faster learners were not the most flexible. These results reveal how little we know about behavioral flexibility, and provide an immense opportunity for future research to explore how individuals and species can use behavior to react to changing environments.

Highlights

Behavioral flexibility, defined here as the ability to change preferences when circumstances change based on learning from previous experience or using causal knowledge, is frequently implicated as a key factor involved in problem solving success and adapting behavior to changing environments (e.g., Lefebvre et al, 1997; Griffin & Guez, 2014; Buckner, 2015; Chow, Lea & Leaver, 2016)
Behavioral flexibility did not correlate across contexts: Those grackles that exhibited flexibility in the Aesop’s Fable paradigm were not the fastest to reverse a previously learned color preference in the color association test
Problem solving efficiency did not appear to be directly linked with behavioral flexibility because not all grackles (2/4) that were efficient problem solvers changed their preference in the Aesop’s Fable paradigm

Summary

BACKGROUND

Behavioral flexibility, defined here as the ability to change preferences when circumstances change based on learning from previous experience or using causal knowledge, is frequently implicated as a key factor involved in problem solving success and adapting behavior to changing environments (e.g., Lefebvre et al, 1997; Griffin & Guez, 2014; Buckner, 2015; Chow, Lea & Leaver, 2016) Those individuals or species that are more behaviorally flexible are predicted to learn faster and more efficiently, and rely on more learning strategies to solve problems (Griffin & Guez, 2014). Knock out rats with improved inhibition showed no difference in their reversal learning speed from non-modified rats (Homberg et al, 2007) This suggests that behavioral flexibility may rely more on individuals continuing to sample their environment rather than inhibiting a response when a behavior is no longer rewarded. I modified the standard Aesop’s Fable experiments to test behavioral flexibility by assessing whether they prefer to drop the more functional heavy objects in a Heavy vs. Light experiment, and whether they change these preferences in a follow up experiment where the heavy objects become non-functional (Heavy vs. Light Magic)

GENERAL METHODS

Methods

Findings

GENERAL DISCUSSION