Abstract:
Individual animals exhibit considerable differences in cognitive characteristics associated with personality differences. The cognition-personality link was intensively investigated in the last decade though with mixed results. To grasp the general pattern, a common method should be applied to a wide range of animals. We tested novel object recognition (NOR) in the mourning gecko (Lepidodactylus lugubris) and investigated whether boldness, assessed in an anti-predator context, explained neophobia and how much attention animals pay to their surroundings. Boldness did not simply explain object neophobia but predicted attention to novel objects. Specifically, shy geckos showed shorter latency to approach the novel object than bold geckos only in the changed situation in which distinct types of objects were presented in two successive phases. However, no significant effect of boldness was detected in the unchanged situation in which the same object was presented twice. Our findings suggest that, in the mourning gecko, (1) boldness and object neophobia represent different aspects of personality traits and that (2) boldness underlies sensitivity to slight changes in the environment.
摘要:
个体动物在与人格差异相关的认知特征上表现出相当大的差异。在过去的十年中,人们对认知与人格的联系进行了深入的研究,尽管结果好坏参半。要把握一般规律,一种常见的方法应该适用于广泛的动物。我们在哀悼壁虎(Lepidodactyluslugubris)中测试了新颖的物体识别(NOR),并研究了是否大胆,在反捕食者的背景下评估,解释了新恐惧症以及动物对周围环境的关注程度。大胆不仅可以解释对象恐惧症,还可以预测对新对象的关注。具体来说,只有在两个连续阶段呈现不同类型的物体的变化情况下,害羞的壁虎才比大胆的壁虎更短地接近新物体。然而,在同一物体两次出现不变的情况下,未检测到大胆的显着影响。我们的研究结果表明,在哀悼的壁虎中,(1)大胆和对象恐惧症代表了人格特质的不同方面,(2)大胆是对环境轻微变化敏感的基础。