Some strains of Lymnaea are smarter than others: why and what are the consequences.

动物每天都在使用认知（这里定义为学习和随后的记忆形成）。然而，有些菌株的记忆力比其他菌株好得多。也就是说，同一物种的一些动物比其他动物更“聪明”。这对于预测动物对环境变化的反应可能非常重要。我们已经证明，池塘蜗牛，stagnalis，是第一个无脊椎动物物种之间的记忆形成的显着差异，自然种群，提供了一个令人兴奋的机会和一个新的模型系统来研究认知进化。我的研究使用神经生物学和行为技术在我的实验室开发的地方，我在一个独特的位置，以阐明自然人群中的认知变化的形成因素，并阐明认知在应对环境变化中发挥的作用。动物改变行为以应对环境的能力使它们能够适应捕食者威胁（包括新引入的物种），食物可用性或食物质量的变化，并记住可能改变社会地位或配偶偏好的同种相互作用，所有这些都将直接影响动物的“健康”。因此，似乎直觉上，应该总是选择增强记忆过去经验的能力;然而，记忆能力也可能带来能量成本，这可能超过从记忆环境方面获得的好处。我们提出的研究将阐明限制认知进化的因素，目前这是心理学，神经生物学和行为科学的一个争论领域，并提供认知在允许物种适应新环境中所起作用的第一个直接证据。

Animals use cognition (defined here as learning and the subsequent formation of memory) on a daily basis. However, some strains remember much better than others. That is, some animals of the same species are 'smarter' than others. This may be very important in predicting how animals will respond to environmental changes. We have demonstrated that the pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis, is the first invertebrate species found with significant differences in memory formation amongst natural populations, providing an exciting opportunity and a new model system to study cognitive evolution. My research using neurobiological and behavioural techniques developed in my lab places me in a unique position to elucidate factors shaping cognitive variation in natural populations and elucidate the role cognition plays in responses to environmental change. The ability of animals to alter behaviour in response to their environment enables them to adapt to changes in predator threat (including new introduced species), food availability or food quality and remember conspecific interactions that may alter social status or mate preference, all of which will directly affect an animal's 'fitness'. Hence, it seems intuitive that an enhanced ability to remember past experience should always be selected for; however, the ability to remember may also carry energetic costs that could outweigh the benefits gained from remembering aspects of the environment. Our proposed studies will elucidate the factors that limit the evolution of cognition, currently an area of debate in psychology, neurobiology and behavioural science, and provide the first direct evidence of the role cognition plays in allowing a species to adapt to novel environments.**