PUBLICATION
Personality traits covary with individual differences in inhibitory abilities in 2 species of fish
- Authors
- Lucon-Xiccato, T., Montalbano, G., Bertolucci, C.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-200524-6
- Date
- 2020
- Source
- Current zoology 66: 187-195 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Bertolucci, Cristiano, Lucon-Xiccato, Tyrone
- Keywords
- cognitive abilities, cognitive ecology, fish behavior, individual differences, inhibitory control, personality
- MeSH Terms
- none
- PubMed
- 32440277 Full text @ Curr Zool
Citation
Lucon-Xiccato, T., Montalbano, G., Bertolucci, C. (2020) Personality traits covary with individual differences in inhibitory abilities in 2 species of fish. Current zoology. 66:187-195.
Abstract
In a number of animal species, individuals differ in their ability to solve cognitive tasks. However, the mechanisms underlying this variability remain unclear. It has been proposed that individual differences in cognition may be related to individual differences in behavior (i.e., personality); a hypothesis that has received mixed support. In this study, we investigated whether personality correlates with the cognitive ability that allows inhibiting behavior in 2 teleost fish species, the zebrafish Danio rerio and the guppy Poecilia reticulata. In both species, individuals that were bolder in a standard personality assay, the open-field test, showed greater inhibitory abilities in the tube task, which required them to inhibit foraging behavior toward live prey sealed into a transparent tube. This finding reveals a relationship between boldness and inhibitory abilities in fish and lends support to the hypothesis of a link between personality and cognition. Moreover, this study suggests that species separated by a relatively large phylogenetic distance may show the same link between personality and cognition, when tested on the same tasks.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping