Danel Samara, Rebout Nancy, Bonadonna Francesco, Biro Dora
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA.
Université Clermont Auvergne, INRAE, VetAgro Sup, UMR Herbivores, Saint-Genès Champanelle 63122, France.
Proc Biol Sci. 2024 Dec;291(2037):20242277. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2024.2277. Epub 2024 Dec 18.
A wide range of animals, including a number of bird, fish, mammal and reptile species, show sex differences in cognitive tests. Hardly anything is known, however, about whether and how sex-specific non-cognitive factors (e.g. response to novelty) affect the expression of cognition in the wild. We used a series of learning and problem-solving tasks in wild breeding skuas, a species in which females are the larger sex (female-biased sexual size dimorphism). We also evaluated the birds' response to novelty (novel objects) before and after the tasks were administered. Both sexes performed equally well in learning () and re-learning () food associations with colour and spatial cues, but female skuas outperformed males in problem-solving tasks (, ). Females were also less neophobic than males: they were faster at accepting a food reward in novel situations. Better female performance may not imply higher cognition . Sex-specific size differences may translate into less or more neophobic behavioural types, which, in turn, predict females' problem-solving success and response to novelty. Species with female-biased sexual dimorphism may present a useful model to assess the interactions between sex, non-cognitive factors and cognition in the wild.
包括许多鸟类、鱼类、哺乳动物和爬行动物在内的多种动物，在认知测试中表现出性别差异。然而，对于特定性别的非认知因素（如对新事物的反应）是否以及如何影响野生环境中认知的表达，我们几乎一无所知。我们对野生繁殖的贼鸥进行了一系列学习和解决问题的任务，贼鸥是一种雌性体型更大的物种（雌性偏向的两性体型差异）。我们还在任务执行前后评估了鸟类对新事物（新物体）的反应。两性在学习（）和重新学习（）食物与颜色和空间线索的关联方面表现同样出色，但雌性贼鸥在解决问题的任务中表现优于雄性（，）。雌性也比雄性更少恐惧新事物：在新环境中接受食物奖励时，它们更快。雌性更好的表现可能并不意味着更高的认知能力。特定性别的体型差异可能转化为或多或少恐惧新事物的行为类型，进而预测雌性解决问题的成功率和对新事物的反应。具有雌性偏向两性差异的物种可能是评估野生环境中性别、非认知因素和认知之间相互作用的有用模型。
