Cognition in the field: comparison of reversal learning performance in captive and wild passerines

M. Cauchoix,E. Hermer,J. Morand-Ferron,A. S. Chaine

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-13179-5

M. Cauchoix, E. Hermer + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-13179-5

Copy DOI

Abstract

Animal cognitive abilities have traditionally been studied in the lab, but studying cognition in nature could provide several benefits including reduced stress and reduced impact on life-history traits. However, it is not yet clear to what extent cognitive abilities can be properly measured in the wild. Here we present the first comparison of the cognitive performance of individuals from the same population, assessed using an identical test, but in contrasting contexts: in the wild vs. in controlled captive conditions. We show that free-ranging great tits (Parus major) perform similarly to deprived, captive birds in a successive spatial reversal-learning task using automated operant devices. In both captive and natural conditions, more than half of birds that contacted the device were able to perform at least one spatial reversal. Moreover, both captive and wild birds showed an improvement of performance over successive reversals, with very similar learning curves observed in both contexts for each reversal. Our results suggest that it is possible to study cognitive abilities of wild animals directly in their natural environment in much the same way that we study captive animals. Such methods open numerous possibilities to study and understand the evolution and ecology of cognition in natural populations.

Highlights

Wild animals have evolved a given set of cognitive abilities in response to ecological and social constraints present in their natural environment, and ongoing environmental changes are likely to continue the process of natural and sexual selection on a number of cognitive abilities[1,2]
Participation in the cognitive task was highly similar in both contexts with 59% of all birds that contacted the apparatus completing the first reversal in both conditions (20/34 in the wild, 17/29 in captivity, Table 1, Contingency table: χ2 = 1.31, df = 1, P = 0.25)
We used a recently developed field-portable device[27] to show that performance in a classical spatial reversal learning task of wild free-ranging great tits was similar to that of individuals brought to captivity and motivated through food deprivation

Summary

Introduction

Wild animals have evolved a given set of cognitive abilities in response to ecological and social constraints present in their natural environment, and ongoing environmental changes are likely to continue the process of natural and sexual selection on a number of cognitive abilities[1,2]. Increased motivation through food deprivation can produce cognitive performances exceeding the range normally expressed in nature, or on the contrary, reduce performance, especially in tasks requiring inhibition[21] These effects are problematic if they produce individual differences in performances that are uncorrelated with those observed in nature[22]. Most cognitive paradigms rely on appetitive tasks and the multitude of alternative feeding sources available to animals in the wild could be expected to reduce participation rates in a given cognitive task This trade-off between tight control of individual condition and a more natural setting has presented us with a gap between lab and field cognition studies that slows down progress in understanding how cognition evolves. We are faced with two challenges: (i) we do not know if cognition can be measured as accurately in the wild as it is in the lab and (ii) we have little evidence of whether cognitive abilities recorded in captivity are generalizable to a wild and natural context

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion