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17

Is behavioral flexibility manipulatable and, if so, does it improve flexibility and problem solving in a new context?use asterix (*) to get italics
Corina Logan, Carolyn Rowney, Luisa Bergeron, Benjamin Seitz, Aaron Blaisdell, Zoe Johnson-Ulrich, Kelsey McCunePlease use the format "First name initials family name" as in "Marie S. Curie, Niels H. D. Bohr, Albert Einstein, John R. R. Tolkien, Donna T. Strickland"
2019
This is one of the first studies planned for our long-term research on the role of behavioral flexibility in rapid geographic range expansions. Behavioral flexibility, the ability to adapt behavior to new circumstances, is thought to play an important role in a species' ability to successfully adapt to new environments and expand its geographic range. However, behavioral flexibility is rarely directly tested in species in a way that would allow us to determine how it works and how we can make predictions about a species' ability to adapt their behavior to new environments. We use great-tailed grackles (a bird species) as a model to investigate this question because they have rapidly expanded their range into North America over the past 140 years. We aim to manipulate grackle behavioral flexibility (color tube reversal learning) to determine whether their flexibility is generalizable across contexts (touch screen reversal learning and multi-access box), whether it is repeatable within individuals and across contexts, and what learning strategies they employ. Results will allow us to understand more about what flexibility is and how it works, and validate whether a touch screen measures the same ability as the color tubes (thus facilitating faster testing that can be conducted in the wild).
You should fill this box only if you chose 'All or part of the results presented in this preprint are based on data'. URL must start with http:// or https://
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Behavioral flexibility, problem solving, reversal learning, multiaccess box, repeatability, learning strategies
NonePlease indicate the methods that may require specialised expertise during the peer review process (use a comma to separate various required expertises).
Behaviour & Ethology, Preregistrations, Zoology
No need for them to be recommenders of PCIEcology. Please do not suggest reviewers for whom there might be a conflict of interest. Reviewers are not allowed to review preprints written by close colleagues (with whom they have published in the last four years, with whom they have received joint funding in the last four years, or with whom they are currently writing a manuscript, or submitting a grant proposal), or by family members, friends, or anyone for whom bias might affect the nature of the review - see the code of conduct
e.g. John Doe [john@doe.com]
2018-07-03 13:23:10
Aurélie Coulon