Grupo Ecología y Evolución de Vertebrados, Instituto de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Antioquia UdeA, Medellin, Colombia.
University of Antwerp, Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, Campus Drie Eiken, Universiteitsplein 1, Wilrijk, Belgium.
PLoS One. 2017 Oct 11;12(10):e0185410. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185410. eCollection 2017.
Individuals from different taxa, including songbirds, differ consistently in behaviour and personality when facing different situations. Although our understanding of animal behaviour has increased, knowledge about between-individual differences in cognitive abilities is still limited. By using an experimental approach and a free-living songbird (Parus major) as a model, we attempted to understand between-individual differences in habituation to playbacks (as a proxy of learning speed), by investigating the role of personality, age and reproductive investment (clutch size). Pre-breeding males were tested for exploration (a proxy of personality) in standardized conditions. In addition, the same individuals were exposed to three playbacks in the field during incubation. Birds significantly moved less, stayed further away and overlapped less the playback with successive playback stimulation. While a decrease in the locomotor behaviour can be explained by personality, differences in habituation of overlapping were predicted by both reproductive investment and personality. Fast explorers habituated less. Moreover, males paired to females with larger clutches did not vary the intensity of overlapping. Since habituation requires information for recognition of non-threatening signals, personality may bias information gathering. While fast explorers may collect less information from the environment, slow explorers (reactive birds) seem to pay attention to environmental clues and collect detailed information. We provided evidence that the rate of habituation of behavioural responses, a proxy of cognitive abilities, may be affected by different factors and in a complex way.
不同分类群的个体，包括鸣禽，在面对不同情况时，其行为和个性始终存在差异。尽管我们对动物行为的理解有所增加，但对认知能力个体差异的了解仍然有限。通过使用实验方法和以自由生活的鸣禽（大山雀）作为模型，我们试图通过研究个性、年龄和繁殖投资（卵数）在习惯形成（作为学习速度的代理）方面的个体差异来理解这一点。在繁殖前，雄性被测试在标准化条件下的探索行为（个性的代理）。此外，同一批个体在孵化期间在野外接受了三次播放。鸟类在连续的播放刺激下，移动得更少，停留得更远，与播放重叠得更少。虽然运动行为的减少可以用个性来解释，但重叠习惯的差异既可以由繁殖投资，也可以由个性来预测。快速探索者的习惯形成较少。此外，与卵数较大的雌性交配的雄性不会改变重叠的强度。由于习惯形成需要信息来识别非威胁信号，个性可能会影响信息收集。虽然快速探索者可能从环境中收集的信息较少，但缓慢探索者（反应性鸟类）似乎会关注环境线索并收集详细信息。我们提供的证据表明，行为反应习惯形成的速度（认知能力的代理）可能受到不同因素的影响，而且是一种复杂的方式。
