In a number of species,males and females have different ecological roles and therefore might be required to solve different problems.Studies on humans have suggested that the 2 sexes often show different efficiencies ...In a number of species,males and females have different ecological roles and therefore might be required to solve different problems.Studies on humans have suggested that the 2 sexes often show different efficiencies in problem solving tasks;similarly,evidence of sex differences has been found in 2 other mammalian species.Here,we assessed whether a teleost fish species,the guppy.Poecilia reticulata,displays sex differences in the ability to solve problems.In Experiment 1,guppies had to learn to dislodge a disc that occluded a feeder from which they had been previously accustomed to feed.In Experiment 2,guppies had to solve a version of the detour task that required them to learn to enter a transparent cylinder from the open sides to reach a food reward previously freely available.We found evidence of sex differences in both problem-solvingi tasks.In Experiment 1,females clearly outperformed males,and in Experiment 2,guppies showed a reversed but smaller sex difference.This study indicates that sex differences may play an important role in fish's problem-solving similar to what has previously been observed in some mammalian species.展开更多
In a number of animal species,individuals differ in their ability to solve cognitive tasks.However,the mechanisms underlying this variability remain unclear.It has been proposed that individual differences in cognitio...In a number of animal species,individuals differ in their ability to solve cognitive tasks.However,the mechanisms underlying this variability remain unclear.It has been proposed that individual differences in cognition may be related to individual differences in behavior(i.e.,personality);a hypothesis that has received mixed support.In this study,we investigated whether personality correlates with the cognitive ability that allows inhibiting behavior in 2 teleost fish species,the zebrafish Danio rerio and the guppy Poecilia reticulata.In both species,individuals that were bolder in a standard personality assay,the open-field test,showed greater inhibitory abilities in the tube task,which required them to inhibit foraging behavior toward live prey sealed into a transparent tube.This finding reveals a relationship between boldness and inhibitory abilities in fish and lends support to the hypothesis of a link between personality and cognition.Moreover,this study suggests that species separated by a relatively large phylogenetic distance may show the same link between personality and cognition,when tested on the same tasks.展开更多
基金Funding was provided by PRIN 2015 Grant(prot.:2015FFATB7)to A.B.from Ministero dell'Istruzione,Universita e Ricerca(M IUR,Italy)FIR2018 and FAR2018 grants to T.L.X.from University of Ferrara.
文摘In a number of species,males and females have different ecological roles and therefore might be required to solve different problems.Studies on humans have suggested that the 2 sexes often show different efficiencies in problem solving tasks;similarly,evidence of sex differences has been found in 2 other mammalian species.Here,we assessed whether a teleost fish species,the guppy.Poecilia reticulata,displays sex differences in the ability to solve problems.In Experiment 1,guppies had to learn to dislodge a disc that occluded a feeder from which they had been previously accustomed to feed.In Experiment 2,guppies had to solve a version of the detour task that required them to learn to enter a transparent cylinder from the open sides to reach a food reward previously freely available.We found evidence of sex differences in both problem-solvingi tasks.In Experiment 1,females clearly outperformed males,and in Experiment 2,guppies showed a reversed but smaller sex difference.This study indicates that sex differences may play an important role in fish's problem-solving similar to what has previously been observed in some mammalian species.
基金Funding was provided by FAR2018 and FIR2018 grant from University of Ferrara to T.L.-X.
文摘In a number of animal species,individuals differ in their ability to solve cognitive tasks.However,the mechanisms underlying this variability remain unclear.It has been proposed that individual differences in cognition may be related to individual differences in behavior(i.e.,personality);a hypothesis that has received mixed support.In this study,we investigated whether personality correlates with the cognitive ability that allows inhibiting behavior in 2 teleost fish species,the zebrafish Danio rerio and the guppy Poecilia reticulata.In both species,individuals that were bolder in a standard personality assay,the open-field test,showed greater inhibitory abilities in the tube task,which required them to inhibit foraging behavior toward live prey sealed into a transparent tube.This finding reveals a relationship between boldness and inhibitory abilities in fish and lends support to the hypothesis of a link between personality and cognition.Moreover,this study suggests that species separated by a relatively large phylogenetic distance may show the same link between personality and cognition,when tested on the same tasks.
