Do the more flexible individuals rely more on causal cognition? Observation versus intervention in causal inference in great-tailed grackles
Behavioral flexibility, the ability to change behavior when circumstances change based on learning from previous experience, is thought to play an important role in a species ability to successfully adapt to new environments and expand its geographic range. It is alternatively or additionally possib...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Peer Community In
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Peer Community Journal |
| Online Access: | https://peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.24072/pcjournal.44/ |
| _version_ | 1797651199015518208 |
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| author | Blaisdell, Aaron Seitz, Benjamin Rowney, Carolyn Folsom, Melissa MacPherson, Maggie Deffner, Dominik Logan, Corina J |
| author_facet | Blaisdell, Aaron Seitz, Benjamin Rowney, Carolyn Folsom, Melissa MacPherson, Maggie Deffner, Dominik Logan, Corina J |
| author_sort | Blaisdell, Aaron |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Behavioral flexibility, the ability to change behavior when circumstances change based on learning from previous experience, is thought to play an important role in a species ability to successfully adapt to new environments and expand its geographic range. It is alternatively or additionally possible that causal cognition, the ability to understand relationships beyond their statistical covariations, could play a significant role in rapid range expansions via the ability to learn faster: causal cognition could lead to making better predictions about outcomes through exerting more control over events. We aim to determine whether great-tailed grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus), a species that is rapidly expanding its geographic range, use causal inference and whether this ability relates to their behavioral flexibility (flexibility measured in these individuals by Logan et al. (2019): reversal learning of a color discrimination and solution switching on a puzzle box). Causal cognition was measured using a touchscreen where individuals learned about the relationships between a star, a tone, a clicking noise, and food. They were then tested on their expectations about which of these causes the food to become available. We found that eight grackles showed no evidence of making causal inferences when given the opportunity to intervene on observed events using a touchscreen apparatus, and that performance on the causal cognition task did not correlate with behavioral flexibility measures. This could indicate that our test was inadequate to assess causal cognition. Because of this, we are unable to speculate about the potential role of causal cognition in a species that is rapidly expanding its geographic range. We suggest further exploration of this hypothesis using larger sample sizes and multiple test paradigms. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T16:11:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a501f7212271499bbf3f19647be444c6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2804-3871 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T16:11:25Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | Peer Community In |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Peer Community Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-a501f7212271499bbf3f19647be444c62023-10-24T14:38:24ZengPeer Community InPeer Community Journal2804-38712021-12-01110.24072/pcjournal.4410.24072/pcjournal.44Do the more flexible individuals rely more on causal cognition? Observation versus intervention in causal inference in great-tailed gracklesBlaisdell, Aaron0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6063-1010Seitz, Benjamin1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8046-7011Rowney, Carolyn2Folsom, Melissa3MacPherson, Maggie4Deffner, Dominik5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1649-3861Logan, Corina J6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5944-906XUniversity of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USAUniversity of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USAMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, GermanyMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, GermanyUniversity of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, USAMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, GermanyMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, GermanyBehavioral flexibility, the ability to change behavior when circumstances change based on learning from previous experience, is thought to play an important role in a species ability to successfully adapt to new environments and expand its geographic range. It is alternatively or additionally possible that causal cognition, the ability to understand relationships beyond their statistical covariations, could play a significant role in rapid range expansions via the ability to learn faster: causal cognition could lead to making better predictions about outcomes through exerting more control over events. We aim to determine whether great-tailed grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus), a species that is rapidly expanding its geographic range, use causal inference and whether this ability relates to their behavioral flexibility (flexibility measured in these individuals by Logan et al. (2019): reversal learning of a color discrimination and solution switching on a puzzle box). Causal cognition was measured using a touchscreen where individuals learned about the relationships between a star, a tone, a clicking noise, and food. They were then tested on their expectations about which of these causes the food to become available. We found that eight grackles showed no evidence of making causal inferences when given the opportunity to intervene on observed events using a touchscreen apparatus, and that performance on the causal cognition task did not correlate with behavioral flexibility measures. This could indicate that our test was inadequate to assess causal cognition. Because of this, we are unable to speculate about the potential role of causal cognition in a species that is rapidly expanding its geographic range. We suggest further exploration of this hypothesis using larger sample sizes and multiple test paradigms.https://peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.24072/pcjournal.44/ |
| spellingShingle | Blaisdell, Aaron Seitz, Benjamin Rowney, Carolyn Folsom, Melissa MacPherson, Maggie Deffner, Dominik Logan, Corina J Do the more flexible individuals rely more on causal cognition? Observation versus intervention in causal inference in great-tailed grackles Peer Community Journal |
| title | Do the more flexible individuals rely more on causal cognition? Observation versus intervention in causal inference in great-tailed grackles |
| title_full | Do the more flexible individuals rely more on causal cognition? Observation versus intervention in causal inference in great-tailed grackles |
| title_fullStr | Do the more flexible individuals rely more on causal cognition? Observation versus intervention in causal inference in great-tailed grackles |
| title_full_unstemmed | Do the more flexible individuals rely more on causal cognition? Observation versus intervention in causal inference in great-tailed grackles |
| title_short | Do the more flexible individuals rely more on causal cognition? Observation versus intervention in causal inference in great-tailed grackles |
| title_sort | do the more flexible individuals rely more on causal cognition observation versus intervention in causal inference in great tailed grackles |
| url | https://peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.24072/pcjournal.44/ |
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