Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Restricted access Review article

Linking behavioural syndromes and cognition: a behavioural ecology perspective

Andrew Sih

Andrew Sih

Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California at Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA

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Marco Del Giudice

Marco Del Giudice

Department of Psychology, University of Turin, via Po 14, 10123 Torino, Italy

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Published:https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0216

    With the exception of a few model species, individual differences in cognition remain relatively unstudied in non-human animals. One intriguing possibility is that variation in cognition is functionally related to variation in personality. Here, we review some examples and present hypotheses on relationships between personality (or behavioural syndromes) and individual differences in cognitive style. Our hypotheses are based largely on a connection between fast–slow behavioural types (BTs; e.g. boldness, aggressiveness, exploration tendency) and cognitive speed–accuracy trade-offs. We also discuss connections between BTs, cognition and ecologically important aspects of decision-making, including sampling, impulsivity, risk sensitivity and choosiness. Finally, we introduce the notion of cognition syndromes, and apply ideas from theories on adaptive behavioural syndromes to generate predictions on cognition syndromes.

    Footnotes

    One contribution of 14 to a Discussion Meeting Issue ‘Animal minds: from computation to evolution’.

    References