Individual consistency in multiple cognitive performance: behavioural versus cognitive syndromes

Abstract

Individuals within species differ consistently in their behaviour. Such individual differences may represent adaptations. Recently, researchers have started to implement the same adaptive framework to individual differences in cognition, leading to the suggestion that personality and cognition should covary. To determine the contextual consistency of cognitive traits and their covariation with several personality traits, 24 guinea pigs, Cavia aperea f. porcellus, were tested using a battery of 12 cognitive tests. Four tests each were conducted to test for problem solving, association learning and social learning. We assessed consistency within each of these three domains and tested for cognitive and behavioural syndromes between domains. Problem solving and social learning were consistent across contexts and positively correlated with each other. In addition, both correlated positively with boldness, and problem solving showed a negative correlation with aggressiveness and sociopositive behaviour. Association learning was neither consistent nor correlated with personality or performance in the other cognition tasks. We showed contextual consistency of two cognitive traits and found multiple links to personality traits that were predicted by recent theory. Surprisingly, associative learning was not consistent, demonstrating the importance of testing the relation between personality and multiple cognitive traits to increase our understanding of individual variation in cognition and personality.