Schnell Alexandra K, Boeckle Markus, Rivera Micaela, Clayton Nicola S, Hanlon Roger T
Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Karl Landsteiner University of Health Science, Krems, Austria.
Proc Biol Sci. 2021 Mar 10;288(1946):20203161. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2020.3161. Epub 2021 Mar 3.
The ability to exert self-control varies within and across taxa. Some species can exert self-control for several seconds whereas others, such as large-brained vertebrates, can tolerate delays of up to several minutes. Advanced self-control has been linked to better performance in cognitive tasks and has been hypothesized to evolve in response to specific socio-ecological pressures. These pressures are difficult to uncouple because previously studied species face similar socio-ecological challenges. Here, we investigate self-control and learning performance in cuttlefish, an invertebrate that is thought to have evolved under partially different pressures to previously studied vertebrates. To test self-control, cuttlefish were presented with a delay maintenance task, which measures an individual's ability to forgo immediate gratification and sustain a delay for a better but delayed reward. Cuttlefish maintained delay durations for up to 50-130 s. To test learning performance, we used a reversal-learning task, whereby cuttlefish were required to learn to associate the reward with one of two stimuli and then subsequently learn to associate the reward with the alternative stimulus. Cuttlefish that delayed gratification for longer had better learning performance. Our results demonstrate that cuttlefish can tolerate delays to obtain food of higher quality comparable to that of some large-brained vertebrates.
自我控制能力在不同物种以及同一物种内部都有所不同。一些物种能够进行长达数秒的自我控制，而其他物种，如大脑较大的脊椎动物，则能够忍受长达数分钟的延迟。高级自我控制能力与在认知任务中表现更好有关，并且据推测是为了应对特定的社会生态压力而进化的。由于之前研究的物种面临相似的社会生态挑战，这些压力很难区分开来。在这里，我们研究了乌贼的自我控制和学习表现，乌贼是一种无脊椎动物，其进化过程中所面临的压力被认为与之前研究的脊椎动物部分不同。为了测试自我控制能力，我们给乌贼设置了一个延迟维持任务，该任务旨在衡量个体放弃即时满足、为了更好但延迟的奖励而维持延迟的能力。乌贼能够维持长达50 - 130秒的延迟时间。为了测试学习表现，我们使用了一个逆向学习任务，即要求乌贼学会将奖励与两种刺激中的一种联系起来，然后再学会将奖励与另一种刺激联系起来。延迟满足时间更长的乌贼学习表现更好。我们的研究结果表明，乌贼能够忍受延迟以获取与一些大脑较大的脊椎动物相当的更高质量食物。
