Abstract
Inhibitory control is a way to infer cognitive flexibility in animals by inhibiting a behavioral propensity to obtain a reward. Here we tested whether there are differences in inhibitory control between females and males of the fish Nile tilapia owing to their distinct reproductive roles. Individuals were tested under a detour-reaching paradigm, consisting of training fish to feed behind an opaque barrier and, thereafter, testing them with a transparent one. Fish is expected to avoid trying to cross through the transparent barrier to achieve food (reward), thus showing inhibitory control by recovering the learned detour with the opaque apparatus. Both males and females learned to detour the transparent barrier with similar scores of correct responses, whereas females reached the food faster. This result is probably associated to their different sex roles in reproduction: females care for the eggs and fry inside their mouth (thus requiring a high inhibitory control not to swallow them), whereas males have to stay inside the territory defending it against intruder males, which also demands some inhibitory ability not to leave the spawning site and take the risk of losing it. Furthermore, this evidence of cognitive flexibility can enable social fish to deal with unpredictable interactions.
Highlights
Inhibitory control is a way to infer cognitive flexibility in animals by inhibiting a behavioral propensity to obtain a reward
Inhibitory control is a class of executive functions involving the environmental perception and problem-solving skills which demand high behavioral flexibility in controlling or even inhibiting a prompt behavior, previously learned, in order to achieve a better solution in the future[1,2]
We tested the possible differences in inhibitory control between the males and females of the cichlid fish Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758), the Nile tilapia, a social and polygynous species, whose males invest in mates through a lek system, while females invest in the offspring by mouthbrooding[25,26]
Summary
Inhibitory control is a way to infer cognitive flexibility in animals by inhibiting a behavioral propensity to obtain a reward. Both males and females learned to detour the transparent barrier with similar scores of correct responses, whereas females reached the food faster This result is probably associated to their different sex roles in reproduction: females care for the eggs and fry inside their mouth ( requiring a high inhibitory control not to swallow them), whereas males have to stay inside the territory defending it against intruder males, which demands some inhibitory ability not to leave the spawning site and take the risk of losing it. We hypothesized that females would achieve a better inhibitory flexibility score, since they need to inhibit their feeding propensity not to swallow their eggs and fry guarded inside their mouth We chose this species because it is a social one, it demands cognitive flexibility in order to deal with unpredictable interactions in its social environment, and because Nile tilapia is a widespread model used for studying several mechanisms related to fish behavior. Since the ecological and behavioral roles between Nile tilapia males and females are not similar, we expected to observe different responses in this inhibitory control task and, in their cognitive functions
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