Personality effects on spatial learning: Comparisons between visual conditions in a weakly electric fish

Abstract Recent research has explored links between cognition and personality, with prominent hypotheses proposing that personality drives consistent individual differences in cognitive function. These hypotheses particularly expect bolder individuals to be faster, but less accurate, as a trade‐off in cognitive function. However, cognitive processes are typically interconnected and defined in more complex terms than simply speed and accuracy. Here, we present evidence that personality‐based differences in learning rates are a result of differences in decision‐making during training in a two‐alternative forced‐choice spatial memory task. This was examined in the mormyrid fish Gnathonemus petersii in the presence of light, where both vision and the electric sense are available, and in the dark, where visibility is limited and fish rely mostly on electrosensing. The species is adapted for the dark to avoid visual predators; thus, the presence of light can induce high‐risk and the dark low‐risk. We show that light conditions had little effect on learning, with bolder fish learning faster both in the light and in the dark conditions. Yet the relationship between learning rates and error rates indicates that the effect on learning is indirectly influenced by accuracy during training. Speed‐accuracy trade‐offs were not found in decision‐making, with bolder individuals deciding faster and more accurately both in the light and in the dark. Only learning strategy wa...
Source: Ethology - Category: Zoology Authors: Tags: RESEARCH PAPER Source Type: research