Uncertainty about old information results in differential predator memory in tadpoles.

ABSTRACT: As information ages, it may become less accurate, resulting in increased uncertainty for decision makers. For example, chemical alarm cues (AC) are a source of public information about a nearby predator attack, and these cues can become spatially inaccurate through time. These cues can also degrade quickly under natural conditions, and cue receivers are sensitive to such degradation. Although numerous studies have documented predator-recognition learning from fresh AC, no studies have explored learning from aged AC and whether the uncertainty associated with this older information contributes to shortening the retention of learned responses (i.e. the 'memory window'). Here, we found that wood frog tadpoles, Lithobates sylvaticus, learned to recognize a novel odour as a predator when

SUBMITTER: Crane AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10170214 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature