Meeting Abstract

59.4  Thursday, Jan. 6  Associative Learning and Pattern Discrimination in Lizards LEAL, M; Duke University mleal@duke.edu

Sympatric species commonly exhibit courtship displays that differ in design. The evolution of such differences has been proposed to serve as a mechanism to communicate species identity. Interspecific differences in dewlap patterns of lizards have been proposed to play a key role in species recognition. If pattern differences facilitate discrimination, individuals must be able to discriminate between stimuli representing distinct patterns. Here I report the results of an associative learning experiment with . As part of the experiment, the lizards exhibited the ability to solve a novel object manipulation task in order to gain access to a food reward in a relatively short period of time. Results demonstrated that individuals are able to associate an arbitrary dewlap-like stimulus with a food reward and to discriminate the reward stimulus from a distractor based solely on pattern differences. These results provide the first evidence that can discriminate between similar patterns, and thus provide support for the possible function of dewlap pattern in species recognition. More generally, the study demonstrates the cognitive abilities of lizards are at a similar level to those of mammals and birds, challenging the general belief that lizards are not suitable subjects for studies of the evolution of cognitive abilities.