Causes of Individual Differences in Animal Exploration and Search.

Simon M Reader

doi:10.1111/tops.12148

Abstract

Numerous studies have documented individual differences in exploratory tendencies and other phenomena related to search, and these differences have been linked to fitness. Here, I discuss the origins of these differences, focusing on how experience shapes animal search and exploration. The origin of individual differences will also depend upon the alternatives to exploration that are available. Given that search and exploration frequently carry significant costs, we might expect individuals to utilize cues indicating the potential net payoffs of exploration versus the exploitation of known acts. Informative cues could arise from both recent and early-life experiences, from both the social and physical environment. Open questions are the extent to which an individual's exploratory tendencies are fixed throughout life versus being flexibly adjusted according to prevailing conditions and the actions of other individuals, and the extent to which individual differences in exploration extend across domains and are independent of other processes.

Highlights

Faced with a world that changes in space and time, organisms with multiple alternative behaviors available can profit by using experience to determine which alternative to employ
Neophilia ensures that a novel object is attended to and manipulated, but neophobia results in an animal frequently disengaging and re-engaging with a task and so favors the use of different variants
Consideration of how the costs and benefits of exploration lead to individual differences in exploratory tendencies has tended to focus on the role of current socioecological conditions, individual phenotypes, and the degree to which an individual can correctly assess the true state of the environment based on recent experience

Summary

Introduction

Faced with a world that changes in space and time, organisms with multiple alternative behaviors available can profit by using experience to determine which alternative to employ. If the world changes over time and space with a degree of predictability, experience will be informative; for example, past success with a foraging location or technique will predict future success. Experience is of no benefit in the face of completely unpredictable change, while genetically encoded conditional strategies can evolve in the face of highly predictable change such as seasonal variation in profitable foraging locations (Boyd & Richerson, 1985; Stephens, 1991). Experience can inform which alternative to employ and the methods used to search for and evaluate alternatives, so-called search strategies. I review causes of individual variation in search strategies, focusing on consistent differences between individuals that cannot be ascribed to local, current environmental conditions

Search and exploration

Variation between individuals in exploration

The trade-off between exploration and exploitation

Is exploration a unitary phenomenon?

Social influences on exploration

Concluding remarks