Taking the Operant Paradigm into the Field: Associative Learning in Wild Great Tits.
Taking the Operant Paradigm into the Field: Associative Learning in Wild Great Tits.
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0133821
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发表时间：
2015
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Quinn JL
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Morand-Ferron J;Hamblin S;Cole EF;Aplin LM;Quinn JL
联想学习对于多种物种的资源获取、捕食者躲避和繁殖至关重要，因此是进化和比较认知研究的关键目标。自动化操作设备可以极大地增强联想学习的研究，但其使用主要限于实验室条件。我们开发了一种便携式、防风雨、电池供电的操作设备，并利用野外自由放养的个体进行了首次全自动颜色联想学习实验。我们使用该设备在受监控的山雀种群（Paridae）中运行颜色辨别任务。在冬季的两个月里，来自 4 个物种的 80 名个体总共记录了 5,128 次试验。大山雀（Parus Major）比其他物种更有可能访问这些设备并参与试验，但在大山雀降落在设备上并记录关键啄击的样本中不存在性别或性格偏见。青少年比成年人更有可能访问这些设备并注册试验。成功解决圈养（拉杆）新技术问题的个体在野外使用操作设备时比未解决问题的个体学得更快，这表明在非常不同的任务中学习表现具有跨情境的一致性。性格或性别对学习率没有显着影响，但青少年的选择准确性往往比成年人提高得更快。我们讨论可定制的自动化操作设备（例如这里描述的设备）如何成为认知特征进化生态学研究的强大工具，特别是在好奇的物种（例如大山雀）中。
Associative learning is essential for resource acquisition, predator avoidance and reproduction in a wide diversity of species, and is therefore a key target for evolutionary and comparative cognition research. Automated operant devices can greatly enhance the study of associative learning and yet their use has been mainly restricted to laboratory conditions. We developed a portable, weatherproof, battery-operated operant device and conducted the first fully automated colour-associative learning experiment using free-ranging individuals in the wild. We used the device to run a colour discrimination task in a monitored population of tits (Paridae). Over two winter months, 80 individuals from four species recorded a total of 5,128 trials. Great tits (Parus major) were more likely than other species to visit the devices and engage in trials, but there were no sex or personality biases in the sample of great tits landing at the devices and registering key pecks. Juveniles were more likely than adults to visit the devices and to register trials. Individuals that were successful at solving a novel technical problem in captivity (lever-pulling) learned faster than non-solvers when at the operant devices in the wild, suggesting cross-contextual consistency in learning performance in very different tasks. There was no significant effect of personality or sex on learning rate, but juveniles’ choice accuracy tended to improve at a faster rate than adults. We discuss how customisable automated operant devices, such as the one described here, could prove to be a powerful tool in evolutionary ecology studies of cognitive traits, especially among inquisitive species such as great tits.