Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, Jan 28, 2016
Cognitive performance is based on brain functions, which have energetic demands and are modulated... more Cognitive performance is based on brain functions, which have energetic demands and are modulated by physiological parameters such as metabolic hormones. As both environmental demands and environmental energy availability change seasonally, we propose that cognitive performance in free-living animals might also change seasonally due to phenotypic plasticity. This is part of an emerging research field, the 'ecophysiology of cognition': environmentally induced changes in physiological traits, such as blood glucose and hormone levels, are predicted to influence cognitive performance in free-living animals. Energy availability for the brain might change, and as such cognition, with changing energetic demands (e.g. reproduction) and changes of energy availability in the environment (e.g. winter, drought). Individuals spending more energy than they can currently obtain from their environment (allostatic overload type I) are expected to trade off energy investment between cognition...
Studying the association between fitness and cognition in free-living animals is a fundamental st... more Studying the association between fitness and cognition in free-living animals is a fundamental step in the elucidation of the evolution of cognition. We assessed whether survival until the onset of the breeding season was related to reaction time or spatial memory in the African striped mouse Rhabdomys pumilio, a rodent that has to survive summer drought before breeding. We tested a total of 90 individuals at the beginning of summer. Female survival was related to a faster response to predation stimuli. Male survival increased with greater spatial memory, possibly because it is important for males to remember the configuration of the environment during dispersal. This study revealed that individual variation in reaction time and spatial memory can be related to survival probability, which is important for understanding the selection pressures acting on basic cognitive traits.
Cognitive flexibility describes the reversible changes of cognition in response to environmental ... more Cognitive flexibility describes the reversible changes of cognition in response to environmental changes. Although various environmental factors such as temperature, photoperiod and rainfall change seasonally, seasonal variation in cognitive performance has been reported in merely a few birds and mammals. We assessed whether cognitive performance in a wild population of African striped mice Rhabdomys pumilio, from the Succulent Karoo semidesert of South Africa, differed between summer and winter. In order to measure cognitive performance, striped mice were trapped in the field, tested under laboratory conditions at our research station and returned to the field within 5 h. We measured attention and spatial memory using the standardized orientation response test and the Barnes maze test. Males tested during summer oriented faster toward a predator-stimulus but made more errors and took longer to locate a shelter than males tested during winter. In contrast, females' performance did not differ between the two seasons. We discuss how the faster orientation in males during winter might be the consequence of lower temperatures and/or prolonged food restriction. We suggest that the enhancement of spatial performance during winter might be due to a greater motivation for future dispersal in male striped mice, as spring represents the breeding season.
Tree shrews represent a relevant model to study the evolution of primate manual laterality as the... more Tree shrews represent a relevant model to study the evolution of primate manual laterality as they are phylogenetically close to primates, they are able to grasp despite having a nonopposable thumb, and they possess a well-developed visual system. In this study, we examined the paw laterality and grasping success rate of 30 Tupaia belangeri (15 males, 15 females) in 2 forced-food grasping tasks (i.e., in a forced-food grasping experiment, the animal has to use paws instead of mouth for food retrieval). We also attempted to determine whether paw usage would be affected by the availability of visual cues using both a visual task (transparent tube) and a nonvisual task (identical but opaque tube). In both tasks, tree shrews showed paw preferences at an individual but not at a population level. Paw laterality (direction and strength) did not differ between tasks. Moreover, in the specific task that we used, grasping success rate was not affected by an absence of visual cues, indicating that tree shrews did not rely on visual guidance to direct their grasps in this forced-food grasping experiment. Our findings suggest that, in contrast to primates, paw usage in tree shrews may result from a modification of a fixed motor pattern in which the preferred direction may be learned. This basic motor organization might be a first step in the evolution of manual laterality, which eventually became controlled by vision in the primate lineage.
Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, Jan 28, 2016
Cognitive performance is based on brain functions, which have energetic demands and are modulated... more Cognitive performance is based on brain functions, which have energetic demands and are modulated by physiological parameters such as metabolic hormones. As both environmental demands and environmental energy availability change seasonally, we propose that cognitive performance in free-living animals might also change seasonally due to phenotypic plasticity. This is part of an emerging research field, the 'ecophysiology of cognition': environmentally induced changes in physiological traits, such as blood glucose and hormone levels, are predicted to influence cognitive performance in free-living animals. Energy availability for the brain might change, and as such cognition, with changing energetic demands (e.g. reproduction) and changes of energy availability in the environment (e.g. winter, drought). Individuals spending more energy than they can currently obtain from their environment (allostatic overload type I) are expected to trade off energy investment between cognition...
Studying the association between fitness and cognition in free-living animals is a fundamental st... more Studying the association between fitness and cognition in free-living animals is a fundamental step in the elucidation of the evolution of cognition. We assessed whether survival until the onset of the breeding season was related to reaction time or spatial memory in the African striped mouse Rhabdomys pumilio, a rodent that has to survive summer drought before breeding. We tested a total of 90 individuals at the beginning of summer. Female survival was related to a faster response to predation stimuli. Male survival increased with greater spatial memory, possibly because it is important for males to remember the configuration of the environment during dispersal. This study revealed that individual variation in reaction time and spatial memory can be related to survival probability, which is important for understanding the selection pressures acting on basic cognitive traits.
Cognitive flexibility describes the reversible changes of cognition in response to environmental ... more Cognitive flexibility describes the reversible changes of cognition in response to environmental changes. Although various environmental factors such as temperature, photoperiod and rainfall change seasonally, seasonal variation in cognitive performance has been reported in merely a few birds and mammals. We assessed whether cognitive performance in a wild population of African striped mice Rhabdomys pumilio, from the Succulent Karoo semidesert of South Africa, differed between summer and winter. In order to measure cognitive performance, striped mice were trapped in the field, tested under laboratory conditions at our research station and returned to the field within 5 h. We measured attention and spatial memory using the standardized orientation response test and the Barnes maze test. Males tested during summer oriented faster toward a predator-stimulus but made more errors and took longer to locate a shelter than males tested during winter. In contrast, females' performance did not differ between the two seasons. We discuss how the faster orientation in males during winter might be the consequence of lower temperatures and/or prolonged food restriction. We suggest that the enhancement of spatial performance during winter might be due to a greater motivation for future dispersal in male striped mice, as spring represents the breeding season.
Tree shrews represent a relevant model to study the evolution of primate manual laterality as the... more Tree shrews represent a relevant model to study the evolution of primate manual laterality as they are phylogenetically close to primates, they are able to grasp despite having a nonopposable thumb, and they possess a well-developed visual system. In this study, we examined the paw laterality and grasping success rate of 30 Tupaia belangeri (15 males, 15 females) in 2 forced-food grasping tasks (i.e., in a forced-food grasping experiment, the animal has to use paws instead of mouth for food retrieval). We also attempted to determine whether paw usage would be affected by the availability of visual cues using both a visual task (transparent tube) and a nonvisual task (identical but opaque tube). In both tasks, tree shrews showed paw preferences at an individual but not at a population level. Paw laterality (direction and strength) did not differ between tasks. Moreover, in the specific task that we used, grasping success rate was not affected by an absence of visual cues, indicating that tree shrews did not rely on visual guidance to direct their grasps in this forced-food grasping experiment. Our findings suggest that, in contrast to primates, paw usage in tree shrews may result from a modification of a fixed motor pattern in which the preferred direction may be learned. This basic motor organization might be a first step in the evolution of manual laterality, which eventually became controlled by vision in the primate lineage.
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