A problem with problem solving: motivational traits, but not cognition, predict success on novel operant foraging tasks

Rates of innovative foraging behaviours and success on problem-solving tasks are often used to assay differences in cognition, both within and across species. Yet the cognitive features of some problem-solving tasks can be unclear. As such, explanations that attribute cognitive mechanisms to individual variation in problem-solving performance have revealed conflicting results. We investigated individual consistency in problem-solving performances in captive-reared pheasant chicks, Phasianus colchicus, and addressed whether success depends on cognitive processes, such as trial-and-error associative learning, or whether performances may be driven solely via noncognitive motivational mechanisms, revealed through subjects' willingness to approach, engage with and persist in their interactions with an apparatus, or via physiological traits such as body condition. While subjects' participation and success were consistent within the same problems and across similar tasks, their performances were inconsistent across different types of task. Moreover, subjects' latencies to approach each test apparatus and their attempts to access the reward were not repeatable across trials. Successful individuals did not improve their performances with experience, nor were they consistent in their techniques in repeated presentations of a task. However, individuals that were highly motivated to enter the experimental chamber were more likely to participate. Successful individuals were also faster to approach each test apparatus and more persistent in their attempts to solve the tasks than unsuccessful individuals. Our findings therefore suggest that individual differences in problem-solving success can arise from inherent motivational differences alone and hence be achieved without inferring more complex cognitive processes

Size dimorphism and sexual segregation in pheasants: tests of three competing hypotheses

Fine scale sexual segregation outside of the mating season is common in sexually dimorphic and polygamous species, particularly in ungulates. A number of hypotheses predict sexual segregation but these are often contradictory with no agreement as to a common cause, perhaps because they are species specific. We explicitly tested three of these hypotheses which are commonly linked by a dependence on sexual dimorphism for animals which exhibit fine-scale sexual segregation; the Predation Risk Hypothesis, the Forage Selection Hypothesis, and the Activity Budget Hypothesis, in a single system the pheasant, Phasianus colchicus; a large, sedentary bird that is predominantly terrestrial and therefore analogous to ungulates rather than many avian species which sexually segregate. Over four years we reared 2,400 individually tagged pheasants from one day old and after a period of 8–10 weeks we released them into the wild. We then followed the birds for 7 months, during the period that they sexually segregate, determined their fate and collected behavioural and morphological measures pertinent to the hypotheses. Pheasants are sexually dimorphic during the entire period that they sexually segregate in the wild; males are larger than females in both body size and gut measurements. However, this did not influence predation risk and predation rates (as predicted by the Predation Risk Hypothesis), diet choice (as predicted by the Forage Selection Hypothesis), or the amount of time spent foraging, resting or walking (as predicted by the Activity Budget Hypothesis). We conclude that adult sexual size dimorphism is not responsible for sexual segregation in the pheasant in the wild. Instead, we consider that segregation may be mediated by other, perhaps social, factors. We highlight the importance of studies on a wide range of taxa to help further the knowledge of sexual segregation

Pheasants Learn Five Different Binomial Color Discriminations and Retain these Associations for at Least 27 Days

Individuals likely vary in how quickly they learn, how many different associations they may be able to maintain, and how long they can remember previously learned associations. However, it is unclear whether capacities for these cognitive processes are consistent within individuals, or whether individual performance differs when presented with novel variants of tasks, or across tasks that assess different cognitive abilities. We investigate associative learning and long-term reference memory in young (3-8 week-old) pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) using a series of visual binary discrimination problems that were presented at different intervals of time. Birds were sequentially presented with five novel color pairs, where they could learn that one color of each pair was consistently rewarded. After experiencing these learning trials, subjects were re-tested on each discrimination problem, but at different intervals (0-27 days), to assess their memory. Subjects’ learning performance improved within 50 trials of each discrimination problem. We found no differences in performance between final learning sessions and initial memory sessions across the different time intervals, suggesting that pheasants retained the previously learned associations of multiple color pairs over at least a 27-day interval. Moreover, proactive interference did not impede their ability to recall subsequently learned color contingencies. Although individual learning and memory performance correlated positively, we found no evidence that individuals’ performances were consistent across task variants. Our findings illuminate capacities for associative learning and long-term reference memory in pheasants

No evidence that footedness in pheasants influences cognitive performance in tasks assessing colour discrimination and spatial ability

The differential specialization of each side of the brain facilitates the parallel processing of information and has been documented in a wide range of animals. Animals that are more lateralized as indicated by consistent preferential limb use are commonly reported to exhibit superior cognitive ability as well as other behavioural advantages.We assayed the lateralization of 135 young pheasants (Phasianus colchicus), indicated by their footedness in a spontaneous stepping task, and related this measure to individual performance in either 3 assays of visual or spatial learning and memory. We found no evidence that pronounced footedness enhances cognitive ability in any of the tasks. We also found no evidence that an intermediate footedness relates to better cognitive performance. This lack of relationship is surprising because previous work revealed that pheasants have a slight population bias towards right footedness, and when released into the wild, individuals with higher degrees of footedness were more likely to die. One explanation for why extreme lateralization is constrained was that it led to poorer cognitive performance, or that optimal cognitive performance was associated with some intermediate level of lateralization. This stabilizing selection could explain the pattern of moderate lateralization that is seen in most non-human species that have been studied. However, we found no evidence in this study to support this explanation

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Data for The quick are the dead: Pheasants that are slow to reverse a learned association survive for longer in the wil

Data from: The quick are the dead: pheasants that are slow to reverse a learned association survive for longer in the wild

Cognitive abilities likely evolve through natural selection if they provide individuals with fitness benefits. A growing number of studies demonstrate a positive relationship between performance in psychometric tasks and (proxy) measures of fitness. We assayed the performance of 154 Common Pheasant Phasianus colchicus chicks on tests of acquisition and reversal learning, using a different set of chicks and different set of cue types (spatial location and colour) in each of two years and then followed their fates after release into the wild. Across all birds, individuals that were slow to reverse previously learned associations were more likely to survive to four months old. For heavy birds, individuals that rapidly acquired an association had improved survival to four months, whereas for light birds, slow acquirers were more likely to be alive. Slow reversers also exhibited less exploratory behaviour in assays when five weeks old. Fast acquirers visited more artificial feeders after release. By contrast to most other studies, we showed that apparently ‘poor’ cognitive performance (slow reversal speed suggesting low behavioural flexibility) correlates with fitness benefits in at least some circumstances. This correlation suggests a novel mechanism by which continued exaggeration of cognitive abilities may be constrained

Size dimorphism and sexual segregation in pheasants: tests of three competing hypotheses (dataset)

This is the dataset used for the Whiteside et al. (2018) article "Size dimorphism and sexual segregation in pheasants: tests of three competing hypotheses".The article incorporates analysis from a large number of datasets over several years to answer a series of question. Each spreadsheet has data for a specific question or set of questions. For each question I have clearly documented the factors that went into the analysis in the article and these factors are labelled at the top of each column on the dataset.The article associated with this dataset is located in ORE at: http://hdl.handle.net/10871/34195Fine scale sexual segregation outside of the mating season is common in sexually dimorphic and polygamous species, particularly in ungulates. A number of hypotheses predict sexual segregation but these are often contradictory with no agreement as to a common cause, perhaps because they are species specific. We explicitly tested three of these hypotheses which are commonly linked by a dependence on sexual dimorphism for animals which exhibit fine-scale sexual segregation; the Predation Risk Hypothesis, the Forage Selection Hypothesis, and the Activity Budget Hypothesis, in a single system the pheasant, Phasianus colchicus; a large, sedentary bird that is predominantly terrestrial and therefore analogous to ungulates rather than many avian species which sexually segregate. Over four years we reared 2,400 individually tagged pheasants from one day old and after a period of 8–10 weeks we released them into the wild. We then followed the birds for 7 months, during the period that they sexually segregate, determined their fate and collected behavioural and morphological measures pertinent to the hypotheses. Pheasants are sexually dimorphic during the entire period that they sexually segregate in the wild; males are larger than females in both body size and gut measurements. However, this did not influence predation risk and predation rates (as predicted by the Predation Risk Hypothesis), diet choice (as predicted by the Forage Selection Hypothesis), or the amount of time spent foraging, resting or walking (as predicted by the Activity Budget Hypothesis). We conclude that adult sexual size dimorphism is not responsible for sexual segregation in the pheasant in the wild. Instead, we consider that segregation may be mediated by other, perhaps social, factors. We highlight the importance of studies on a wide range of taxa to help further the knowledge of sexual segregation.ERC Consolidator Awar

Supporting Methods and Results from The quick are the dead: pheasants that are slow to reverse a learned association survive for longer in the wild

Supporting Methods and Result