Taking the Operant Paradigm into the Field: Associative Learning in Wild Great Tits.

ABSTRACT: Associative learning is essential for resource acquisition, predator avoidance and reproduction in a wide diversity of species, and is therefore a key target for evolutionary and comparative cognition research. Automated operant devices can greatly enhance the study of associative learning and yet their use has been mainly restricted to laboratory conditions. We developed a portable, weatherproof, battery-operated operant device and conducted the first fully automated colour-associative learning experiment using free-ranging individuals in the wild. We used the device to run a colour discrimination task in a monitored population of tits (Paridae). Over two winter months, 80 individuals from four species recorded a total of 5,128 trials. Great tits (Parus major) were more likely than other

SUBMITTER: Morand-Ferron J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4546055 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature