Data from: Aggressive jumping spiders make quicker decisions for preferred prey but not at the cost of accuracy

There has been an increasing interest in consistent interindividual differences in behavior (i.e., personality) in recent years. However, consistent interindividual differences in cognitive styles remain largely unexplored. Individual differences in cognitive styles are hypothesized to be functionally related to differences in personality types. It is assumed that proactive individuals make faster decisions at the expense of accuracy (i.e., the speed–accuracy trade-offs hypothesis). Here, we investigated the relationship between personality and speed–accuracy trade-off using Portia labiata, a specialized spider-eating jumping spider that exhibits excellent cognitive ability. We first established consistent individual differences in aggressiveness and decision-making in P. labiata. We then tested whether individual differences in aggressiveness could predict how fast and accurately P. labiata makes a prey-choice decision (a large vs. a small orb-web spider). We demonstrated that P. labiata exhibited individual differences not only in aggressiveness, but also in the speed of prey-choice decisions but not in the choices. Importantly, we found that aggressiveness was not related to the choice of the prey, but it predicted the speed of prey-choice decision: aggressive individuals were faster to make choices than docile ones but both chose large spiders as preferred prey. This suggests a lack of an association between a speed–accuracy trade-off and variation in personality types of P. labiata.

近年来，学界对行为层面稳定的个体间差异（即人格）的关注度与日俱增。然而，认知风格层面的稳定个体差异仍未得到充分探索。学界假设，认知风格的个体差异与人格类型差异存在功能层面的关联。有研究推测，主动性较强的个体决策速度更快，但会以牺牲准确性为代价（即速度-准确性权衡（speed–accuracy trade-offs）假说）。本研究以具有卓越认知能力的专食蜘蛛的跳蛛——孔蛛（Portia labiata）为实验对象，探究了人格与速度-准确性权衡之间的关联。我们首先验证了孔蛛在攻击性与决策行为层面存在稳定的个体差异。随后我们检验了攻击性的个体差异能否预测孔蛛在猎物选择决策（即选择大型圆网蛛与小型圆网蛛）中的速度与准确性。研究结果显示，孔蛛不仅在攻击性层面存在个体差异，在猎物选择决策的速度层面同样存在个体差异，但在猎物选择偏好上并无显著个体差异。值得注意的是，我们发现攻击性与猎物选择偏好并无关联，但能够预测猎物选择决策的速度：攻击性较强的个体做出选择的速度快于温顺个体，但两类个体均将大型圆网蛛作为偏好猎物。这表明孔蛛的速度-准确性权衡与人格类型的变异之间并无关联。