Early experience affects learning performance and neophobia in a cooperatively breeding cichlid

Francis Bannier; Sabine Tebbich; BARBARA TABORSKY

doi:10.1111/eth.12646

journal article Aug 14, 2017

Early experience affects learning performance and neophobia in a cooperatively breeding cichlid

Francis Bannier Sabine Tebbich BARBARA TABORSKY

Ethology Vol. 123 No. 10 pp. 712-723 · Wiley

View at Publisher Save 10.1111/eth.12646

Abstract

AbstractThe ability to respond flexibly to environmental challenges, for instance by learning or by responding appropriately to novel stimuli, may be crucial for survival and reproductive success. Experiences made during early ontogeny can shape the degree of behavioural flexibility maintained by individuals during later life. In natural habitats, animals are exposed to a multitude of social and non‐social ecological factors during early ontogeny, but their relative influences on future learning ability and behavioural flexibility are only poorly understood. In the cooperatively breeding cichlidNeolamprologus pulcher, we investigated whether early social and predator experiences shape the learning performance, flexibility, and response to novelty of adults. Fish were reared either with or without parents and helpers and with or without perceived predation risk in a full‐factorial experiment. We investigated the influence of these treatments on learning performance and flexibility in a spatial acquisition and reversal learning task. To test for response to novelty, we performed a neophobia test. We found that fish reared with predator experience, but without the presence of older group members outperformed fish with other rearing backgrounds in reversal learning and that individuals, which had been reared in a socially more complex environment together with older group members responded less neophobic toward a novel object than individuals reared among siblings only. Comparative evidence from fish and rats suggests that these developmental effects may be driven by the cues of safety perceived in the presence of guarding parents.

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Metrics

35

Citations

100

References

Details

Published: Aug 14, 2017
Vol/Issue: 123(10)
Pages: 712-723
License: View

Authors

F

Francis Bannier

Behavioural Ecology Institute of Ecology and Evolution University of Bern Hinterkappelen Switzerland

S

Sabine Tebbich

Department for Behavioural Biology University of Vienna Vienna Austria

B

BARBARA TABORSKY

Behavioural Ecology Institute of Ecology and Evolution University of Bern Hinterkappelen Switzerland

Funding

Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung Award: 31003A_156881

Austrian Science Fund Award: P 26556‐B22

Cite This Article

Francis Bannier, Sabine Tebbich, BARBARA TABORSKY (2017). Early experience affects learning performance and neophobia in a cooperatively breeding cichlid. Ethology, 123(10), 712-723. https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.12646

Early experience affects learning performance and neophobia in a cooperatively breeding cichlid

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