Boldness, behavioral inhibition and learning

Abstract

While many studies have examined both boldness and behavioral inhibition from psychological, psychiatric and physiological perspectives, little in the way of controlled experimental work has examined the costs or benefits of boldness and behavioral inhibition. Predator inspection behavior in fish is a model system for just such an approach. Here, we examined one potential benefit to boldness by examining the relationship between boldness/behavioral inhibition (measured by predator inspection behavior) and associative learning in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata). We found a positive relationship between male boldness and a simple associative learning task, in that males that learned to associate a cue with food were bolder than those that did not.