A problem with problem solving: motivational traits, but not cognition, predict success on novel operant foraging tasks
Madden, JR; Van Horik, JO
Date: 14 March 2016
Journal
Animal Behaviour
Publisher
Elsevier
Publisher DOI
Abstract
Rates of innovative foraging behaviours and success on problem-solving tasks are often used to assay
differences in cognition, both within and across species. Yet the cognitive features of some problemsolving
tasks can be unclear. As such, explanations that attribute cognitive mechanisms to individual
variation in problem-solving ...
Rates of innovative foraging behaviours and success on problem-solving tasks are often used to assay
differences in cognition, both within and across species. Yet the cognitive features of some problemsolving
tasks can be unclear. As such, explanations that attribute cognitive mechanisms to individual
variation in problem-solving performance have revealed conflicting results. We investigated individual
consistency in problem-solving performances in captive-reared pheasant chicks, Phasianus colchicus, and
addressed whether success depends on cognitive processes, such as trial-and-error associative learning,
or whether performances may be driven solely via noncognitive motivational mechanisms, revealed
through subjects' willingness to approach, engage with and persist in their interactions with an apparatus,
or via physiological traits such as body condition. While subjects' participation and success were
consistent within the same problems and across similar tasks, their performances were inconsistent
across different types of task. Moreover, subjects' latencies to approach each test apparatus and their
attempts to access the reward were not repeatable across trials. Successful individuals did not improve
their performances with experience, nor were they consistent in their techniques in repeated presentations
of a task. However, individuals that were highly motivated to enter the experimental chamber
were more likely to participate. Successful individuals were also faster to approach each test apparatus
and more persistent in their attempts to solve the tasks than unsuccessful individuals. Our findings
therefore suggest that individual differences in problem-solving success can arise from inherent motivational
differences alone and hence be achieved without inferring more complex cognitive processes
Psychology - old structure
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