Information maintenance of food sources is associated with environment, spatial cognition and age in a food-caching bird

2021 ◽  
Vol 182 ◽  
pp. 153-172
Author(s):  
Lauren M. Benedict ◽  
Angela M. Pitera ◽  
Carrie L. Branch ◽  
Benjamin R. Sonnenberg ◽  
Virginia K. Heinen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Cognition ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Food Caching

scholarly journals Food discovery is associated with different reliance on social learning and lower cognitive flexibility across environments in a food-caching bird

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1951) ◽  
pp. 20202843
Author(s):  
Virginia K. Heinen ◽  
Angela M. Pitera ◽  
Benjamin R. Sonnenberg ◽  
Lauren M. Benedict ◽  
Eli S. Bridge ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Information Acquisition ◽  
Social Information ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Independent Learning ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Novel Food ◽  
Food Caching

Social learning is a primary mechanism for information acquisition in social species. Despite many benefits, social learning may be disadvantageous when independent learning is more efficient. For example, searching independently may be more advantageous when food sources are ephemeral and unpredictable. Individual differences in cognitive abilities can also be expected to influence social information use. Specifically, better spatial memory can make a given environment more predictable for an individual by allowing it to better track food sources. We investigated how resident food-caching chickadees discovered multiple novel food sources in both harsher, less predictable high elevation and milder, more predictable low elevation winter environments. Chickadees at high elevation were faster at discovering multiple novel food sources and discovered more food sources than birds at low elevation. While birds at both elevations used social information, the contribution of social learning to food discovery was significantly lower at high elevation. At both elevations, chickadees with better spatial cognitive flexibility were slower at discovering food sources, likely because birds with lower spatial cognitive flexibility are worse at tracking natural resources and therefore spend more time exploring. Overall, our study supported the prediction that harsh environments should favour less reliance on social learning.

Elevation-related differences in annual survival of adult food-caching mountain chickadees are consistent with natural selection on spatial cognition

2020 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
L. M. Benedict ◽  
A. M. Pitera ◽  
C. L. Branch ◽  
D. Y. Kozlovsky ◽  
B. R. Sonnenberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Spatial Cognition ◽  
Annual Survival ◽  
Food Caching ◽  
Adult Food ◽  
Mountain Chickadees

scholarly journals Natural Selection and Spatial Cognition in Wild Food-Caching Mountain Chickadees

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 670-676.e3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin R. Sonnenberg ◽  
Carrie L. Branch ◽  
Angela M. Pitera ◽  
Eli Bridge ◽  
Vladimir V. Pravosudov
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Spatial Cognition ◽  
Wild Food ◽  
Food Caching ◽  
Mountain Chickadees

scholarly journals Specialized spatial cognition is associated with reduced cognitive senescence in a food-caching bird

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1947) ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia K. Heinen ◽  
Angela M. Pitera ◽  
Benjamin R. Sonnenberg ◽  
Lauren M. Benedict ◽  
Carrie L. Branch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Cognition ◽  
Learning And Memory ◽  
Spatial Learning ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Wild Food ◽  
Spatial Learning And Memory ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
Food Caching ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Survival And Reproduction

Senescence, the gradual reduction and loss of function as organisms age, is a widespread process that is especially pronounced in cognitive abilities. Senescence appears to have a genetic basis and can be affected by evolutionary processes. If cognitive senescence is shaped by natural selection, it may be linked with selection on cognitive abilities needed for survival and reproduction, such that species where fitness is directly related to cognitive abilities should evolve delayed cognitive senescence likely resulting in higher lifetime fitness. We used wild food-caching mountain chickadees, which rely on specialized spatial cognition to recover thousands of food caches annually, to test for cognitive senescence in spatial learning and memory and reversal spatial learning and memory abilities. We detected no signs of age-related senescence in spatial cognitive performance on either task in birds ranging from 1 to 6 years old; older birds actually performed better on spatial learning and memory tasks. Our results therefore suggest that cognitive senescence may be either delayed (potentially appearing after 6 years) or negligible in species with strong selection on cognitive abilities and that food-caching species may present a useful model to investigate mechanisms associated with cognitive senescence.

Spatial Cognition: An Interdisciplinary Approach

PsycCRITIQUES ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 55 (48) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Friedenberg
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Cognition ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach

The voodoo bucket: Dolphins' consistent but unexplained response pattern in a spatial cognition task

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Jaakkola ◽  
Emily Guarino ◽  
Mandy Rodriguez ◽  
Linda Erb
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Cognition ◽  
Response Pattern
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