Heritabilities and co-variation among cognitive traits in red junglefowl.

ABSTRACT: Natural selection can act on between-individual variation in cognitive abilities, yet evolutionary responses depend on the presence of underlying genetic variation. It is, therefore, crucial to determine the relative extent of genetic versus environmental control of these among-individual differences in cognitive traits to understand their causes and evolutionary potential. We investigated heritability of associative learning performance and of a cognitive judgement bias (optimism), as well as their covariation, in a captive pedigree-bred population of red junglefowl (Gallus gallus, n > 300 chicks over 5 years). We analysed performance in discriminative and reversal learning (two facets of associative learning), and cognitive judgement bias, by conducting animal models to disentangle genet

SUBMITTER: Sorato E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6107570 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature