Reversal Learning in the Chimango Caracara (Milvago chimango)

GUIDO J. M.; BIONDI L. M.; VASSALLO, A. I.; MUZZIO, RUBÉN

Congreso; I WORLDWIDE RAPTOR CONFERENCE; 2013

Behavioral flexibility, or the ability to create novel behavioral patterns in an adaptive way, has been one of the animal cognition aspects more frequently studied. Through learning, animals can adjust their behavior to cope successfully with changes of their social and ecological environment. This study evaluated the reversal learning ability of the Chimango, an associative mechanism known as a good estimator of behavioral flexibility, analyzing the inter-individual variability and age differences. Due to their ecological plasticity, we predicted that the Chimango could show the ability to discriminate between two stimuli of different color through associative learning with a feeding reward, and to reverse these previously learned associative patterns. Our results showed that Chimangos have the ability to discriminate between stimuli, as well as to reverse such learning. The inter-individual variation in learning was higher in the discrimination (CV= 0.6) than in the reversion (CV= 0.2), though it required a higher number of sessions (DSIC = 2.3 ± 0.8 vs. REV = 5.2 ± 0.4; AMR, F=9.9, p=0.008), and involved more errors until reach the learning criterion (DSIC = 5.8 ± 1.3 vs. REV = 16.3 ± 2.1; AMR, F=40.6, p0.1). These results indicate that both adult and juvenile Chimangos are fast-learners regarding the solving of a novel discrimination problem. They also showed the ability to revert this previously learned association, though in a lower rate compared to the initial acquisition process, which could indicate a more routine-like profile. Thus, new and rewarded behaviors might be preserved immediately after its learning. This ognitive capacity probably reflects their flexibility in natural situations, and might represent one of the factors underlying their ecological success, mainly in relation to the utilization of novel and unpredictable environments.