Willcox Kathryn, Vernouillet Alizée, Lens Luc, Verbruggen Frederick
Centre for Research on Ecology, Cognition and Behaviour of Birds, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Learn Behav. 2025 Jun;53(2):157-170. doi: 10.3758/s13420-024-00643-2. Epub 2024 Sep 19.
In complex social environments, animals benefit from suppressing inappropriate responses (known as Response Inhibition) to avoid conflicts and maintain group cohesion. Recent research suggests that an individual's early-life social environment can shape their response inhibition. However, these findings have mostly been correlational, and results vary across species. Furthermore, the role of learning is often overlooked when measuring response inhibition, despite its potential importance to understanding group differences. We investigated the effect of early-life group size, a key determinant of social complexity, on response inhibition in Japanese quails (Coturnix japonica), whilst taking the role of learning into account. Quails (n = 120) were raised in either small groups of five or large groups of 15 individuals. Response inhibition was assessed using the cylinder task. Up to ten trials were administered to assess whether the birds' responses changed with increasing experience of the task. Among the quails that completed ten trials, we found that those raised in large groups consistently spent less time pecking the cylinder than those raised in small groups. The quails' responses were also influenced by their body condition, food motivation and sex. Importantly, the quails learned to inhibit their responses - successful trials increased, and time spent pecking the cylinder decreased, across ten trials. However, learning rates did not differ between the treatment groups. These findings suggest that early-life social group size promotes the development of response inhibition in quails, but not their learning of it, during the cylinder task.
在复杂的社会环境中，动物通过抑制不适当反应（即反应抑制）来避免冲突并维持群体凝聚力，从而从中受益。最近的研究表明，个体早期的社会环境会塑造其反应抑制能力。然而，这些发现大多只是相关性的，而且不同物种的结果也有所不同。此外，在测量反应抑制时，学习的作用常常被忽视，尽管它对于理解群体差异可能具有重要意义。我们研究了早期群体规模（社会复杂性的一个关键决定因素）对日本鹌鹑（Coturnix japonica）反应抑制的影响，同时考虑了学习的作用。鹌鹑（n = 120）被饲养在每组五只的小群体或每组十五只的大群体中。使用圆柱体任务评估反应抑制能力。最多进行十次试验，以评估鸟类的反应是否随着对任务经验的增加而改变。在完成十次试验的鹌鹑中，我们发现，饲养在大群体中的鹌鹑啄圆柱体的时间始终比饲养在小群体中的鹌鹑少。鹌鹑的反应还受到其身体状况、食物动机和性别的影响。重要的是，鹌鹑学会了抑制它们的反应——在十次试验中，成功的试验次数增加，啄圆柱体的时间减少。然而，各处理组之间的学习率没有差异。这些发现表明，早期社会群体规模促进了鹌鹑在圆柱体任务中反应抑制能力的发展，但没有促进它们对反应抑制的学习。
