Sex differences in retention after a visual or a spatial discrimination learning task in brood parasitic shiny cowbirds
Females of avian brood parasites, like the shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis), locate host nests and on subsequent days return to parasitize them. This ecological pressure for remembering the precise location of multiple host nests may have selected for superior spatial memory abilities. We teste...
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2015
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| Acceso en línea: | https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_03766357_v119_n_p99_Astie http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_03766357_v119_n_p99_Astie |
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paper:paper_03766357_v119_n_p99_Astie2023-06-08T15:38:46Z Sex differences in retention after a visual or a spatial discrimination learning task in brood parasitic shiny cowbirds Astié, Andrea Alejandra Scardamaglia, Romina Clara Muzio, Ruben Nestor Reboreda, Juan Carlos Brood parasitism Cowbirds Sex differences Spatial memory brain brood parasitism host location hypothesis testing learning long-term change memory nest site passerine sex-related difference site selection spatial analysis visual cue animal experiment Article bird brood parasite female hippocampus long term memory male Molothrus bonariensis nonhuman predictive value sex difference spatial discrimination spatial memory species extinction task performance visual discrimination learning test animal animal behavior discrimination learning nesting Passeriformes physiology sex difference Aves Molothrus Molothrus bonariensis Animals Behavior, Animal Discrimination Learning Female Hippocampus Male Memory, Long-Term Nesting Behavior Passeriformes Retention (Psychology) Sex Factors Spatial Memory Females of avian brood parasites, like the shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis), locate host nests and on subsequent days return to parasitize them. This ecological pressure for remembering the precise location of multiple host nests may have selected for superior spatial memory abilities. We tested the hypothesis that shiny cowbirds show sex differences in spatial memory abilities associated with sex differences in host nest searching behavior and relative hippocampus volume. We evaluated sex differences during acquisition, reversal and retention after extinction in a visual and a spatial discrimination learning task. Contrary to our prediction, females did not outperform males in the spatial task in either the acquisition or the reversal phases. Similarly, there were no sex differences in either phase in the visual task. During extinction, in both tasks the retention of females was significantly higher than expected by chance up to 50 days after the last rewarded session (~85-90% of the trials with correct responses), but the performance of males at that time did not differ than that expected by chance. This last result shows a long-term memory capacity of female shiny cowbirds, which were able to remember information learned using either spatial or visual cues after a long retention interval. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. Fil:Astié, A.A. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Fil:Scardamaglia, R.C. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Fil:Muzio, R.N. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Fil:Reboreda, J.C. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. 2015 https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_03766357_v119_n_p99_Astie http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_03766357_v119_n_p99_Astie |
| institution |
Universidad de Buenos Aires |
| institution_str |
I-28 |
| repository_str |
R-134 |
| collection |
Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA) |
| topic |
Brood parasitism Cowbirds Sex differences Spatial memory brain brood parasitism host location hypothesis testing learning long-term change memory nest site passerine sex-related difference site selection spatial analysis visual cue animal experiment Article bird brood parasite female hippocampus long term memory male Molothrus bonariensis nonhuman predictive value sex difference spatial discrimination spatial memory species extinction task performance visual discrimination learning test animal animal behavior discrimination learning nesting Passeriformes physiology sex difference Aves Molothrus Molothrus bonariensis Animals Behavior, Animal Discrimination Learning Female Hippocampus Male Memory, Long-Term Nesting Behavior Passeriformes Retention (Psychology) Sex Factors Spatial Memory |
| spellingShingle |
Brood parasitism Cowbirds Sex differences Spatial memory brain brood parasitism host location hypothesis testing learning long-term change memory nest site passerine sex-related difference site selection spatial analysis visual cue animal experiment Article bird brood parasite female hippocampus long term memory male Molothrus bonariensis nonhuman predictive value sex difference spatial discrimination spatial memory species extinction task performance visual discrimination learning test animal animal behavior discrimination learning nesting Passeriformes physiology sex difference Aves Molothrus Molothrus bonariensis Animals Behavior, Animal Discrimination Learning Female Hippocampus Male Memory, Long-Term Nesting Behavior Passeriformes Retention (Psychology) Sex Factors Spatial Memory Astié, Andrea Alejandra Scardamaglia, Romina Clara Muzio, Ruben Nestor Reboreda, Juan Carlos Sex differences in retention after a visual or a spatial discrimination learning task in brood parasitic shiny cowbirds |
| topic_facet |
Brood parasitism Cowbirds Sex differences Spatial memory brain brood parasitism host location hypothesis testing learning long-term change memory nest site passerine sex-related difference site selection spatial analysis visual cue animal experiment Article bird brood parasite female hippocampus long term memory male Molothrus bonariensis nonhuman predictive value sex difference spatial discrimination spatial memory species extinction task performance visual discrimination learning test animal animal behavior discrimination learning nesting Passeriformes physiology sex difference Aves Molothrus Molothrus bonariensis Animals Behavior, Animal Discrimination Learning Female Hippocampus Male Memory, Long-Term Nesting Behavior Passeriformes Retention (Psychology) Sex Factors Spatial Memory |
| description |
Females of avian brood parasites, like the shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis), locate host nests and on subsequent days return to parasitize them. This ecological pressure for remembering the precise location of multiple host nests may have selected for superior spatial memory abilities. We tested the hypothesis that shiny cowbirds show sex differences in spatial memory abilities associated with sex differences in host nest searching behavior and relative hippocampus volume. We evaluated sex differences during acquisition, reversal and retention after extinction in a visual and a spatial discrimination learning task. Contrary to our prediction, females did not outperform males in the spatial task in either the acquisition or the reversal phases. Similarly, there were no sex differences in either phase in the visual task. During extinction, in both tasks the retention of females was significantly higher than expected by chance up to 50 days after the last rewarded session (~85-90% of the trials with correct responses), but the performance of males at that time did not differ than that expected by chance. This last result shows a long-term memory capacity of female shiny cowbirds, which were able to remember information learned using either spatial or visual cues after a long retention interval. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. |
| author |
Astié, Andrea Alejandra Scardamaglia, Romina Clara Muzio, Ruben Nestor Reboreda, Juan Carlos |
| author_facet |
Astié, Andrea Alejandra Scardamaglia, Romina Clara Muzio, Ruben Nestor Reboreda, Juan Carlos |
| author_sort |
Astié, Andrea Alejandra |
| title |
Sex differences in retention after a visual or a spatial discrimination learning task in brood parasitic shiny cowbirds |
| title_short |
Sex differences in retention after a visual or a spatial discrimination learning task in brood parasitic shiny cowbirds |
| title_full |
Sex differences in retention after a visual or a spatial discrimination learning task in brood parasitic shiny cowbirds |
| title_fullStr |
Sex differences in retention after a visual or a spatial discrimination learning task in brood parasitic shiny cowbirds |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Sex differences in retention after a visual or a spatial discrimination learning task in brood parasitic shiny cowbirds |
| title_sort |
sex differences in retention after a visual or a spatial discrimination learning task in brood parasitic shiny cowbirds |
| publishDate |
2015 |
| url |
https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_03766357_v119_n_p99_Astie http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_03766357_v119_n_p99_Astie |
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