Serial reversal learning and the evolution of behavioral flexibility in three species of North American corvids (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus, Nucifraga columbiana, Aphelocoma californica)
In serial reversal learning, subjects learn to respond differentially to 2 stimuli. When the task is fully acquired, reward contingencies are reversed, requiring the subject to relearn the altered associations. This alternation of acquisition and reversal can be repeated many times, and the ability of a species to adapt to this regimen has been considered […]
Brain Size Predicts the Success of Mammal Species Introduced into Novel Environments
Large brains, relative to body size, can confer advantages to individuals in the form of behavioral flexibility. Such enhanced behavioral flexibility is predicted to carry fitness benefits to individuals facing novel or altered environmental conditions, a theory known as the brain size-environmental change hypothesis. Here, we provide the first empirical link between brain size and […]
Personality affects learning performance in difficult tasks in a sex-dependent way
Animals constantly need to cope with changes in their environment. Coping with changes in cues that are associated with the location and abundance of food is essential for being able to adjust behaviourally to a variable environment. The use of cues in decision making requires appropriate levels of attention and learning ability, which may be […]
Reproductive experience does not persistently alter prefrontal cortical-dependent learning but does alter strategy use dependent on estrous phase
Reproductive experiences in females comprise substantial hormonal and experiential changes and can exert long lasting changes in cognitive function, stress physiology, and brain plasticity. The goal of this research was to determine whether prior reproductive experience could alter a prefrontal–cortical dependent form of learning (strategy set shifting) in an operant box. In this study, female […]