The effects of aggression and neophobia on olfactory learning in crickets


SOCIETY FOR INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY
2021 VIRTUAL ANNUAL MEETING (VAM)
January 3 – Febuary 28, 2021

Meeting Abstract


P37-3  Sat Jan 2  The effects of aggression and neophobia on olfactory learning in crickets Albers, JM*; Reichert, M; Oklahoma State University; Oklahoma State University jonathan.m.albers@okstate.edu https://outlook.office.com/mail/inbox/id/AAQkADhhNjlmNGU5LTBlMTctNGU0Zi05MmE4LTM4MGRjNzBiMzViMAAQAADqqxcuCnJOsPKsWsIjGls%3D

Personality traits such as exploratory behavior and boldness have been shown to influence the cognitive performance of animals. Aggression has not been looked at as much, despite evidence showing that cognition influences aggression in animal contests. This study looks at the relationship between aggression, neophobia, and learning in the cricket ““Acheta domesticus. We characterized individual variation in aggressiveness by monitoring the intensity of agonistic behaviors exhibited by each individual in a series of contests. Neophobia was tested with a novel object test. The crickets were then placed in a maze that tested their ability to learn using their olfactory senses and reverse learn various odors associated with a reward and a punishment. We expect to find that more aggressive and neophilic individuals will learn the initial association faster but will perform worse on the reversal than less aggressive and neophobic individuals. This research will help look at how individual variation interacts with learning and aggression and will help provide more information on how personality traits affect learning.

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