| Summary: | We tested whether acute microplastic exposure impacts information gathering and processing (cognition) in hermit crabs (<i>Pagurus bernhardus</i>). For five days, we kept 51 hermit crabs in tanks containing either polyethylene microspheres (<i>n</i> = 27) or no plastic (<i>n</i> = 24). We then transferred individuals into an intermediate-quality shell and presented them with two vials containing either a better or worse shell. Because touching both shell vials required an equivalent behavioural response, this design controlled for general activity. Plastic-exposed hermit crabs were less likely and slower than controls to touch the better shell vial, instead preferring the worse shell vial. Microplastics, therefore, impaired assessments and decision-making, providing direct evidence of acute microplastic exposure disrupting hermit crab cognition.
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