Intraspecific variation in inhibitory motor control in guppies, Poecilia reticulata

Abstract

Inhibitory control (IC) is the ability to overcome impulsive or prepotent but ineffective responses in favour of more appropriate behaviours. The ability to inhibit internal predispositions or external temptations is key to cope with a complex and variable world. Traditionally viewed as cognitively demanding and a main component of executive functioning and self-control, IC was historically examined in only a few species of birds and mammals but recently a growing number of studies has shown that a much wider range of taxa rely on IC. Furthermore, there is growing evidence that inhibitory abilities may vary within species at the population and individual levels owing to genetic and environmental factors. Here we use a detour-reaching task, a standard paradigm to measure motor inhibition in non-human animals to quantify patterns of inter-individual variation in IC in wild-descendant female guppies, Poecilia reticulata. We found that female guppies displayed inhibitory performances that were, on average, half as successful as the performances reported previously for other strains of guppies tested in similar experimental conditions. Moreover, we showed consistent individual variation in the ability to inhibit inappropriate behaviours. Our results contribute to the understanding of the evolution of fish cognition and suggest that IC may show considerable variation among populations within a species. Such variation in IC abilities might contribute to individual differences in other cognitive functions such as spatial learning, quantity discrimination, or reversal learning.