Inhibitory control, exploration behaviour and manipulated ecological context are associated with foraging flexibility in the great tit

​​​​​Organisms are constantly under selection to respond effectively to
diverse, sometimes rapid, changes in their environment, but not all
individuals are equally plastic in their behaviour. Although cognitive
processes and personality are expected to influence individual behavioural
plasticity, the effects reported are highly inconsistent, which we
hypothesise is because ecological context is usually not considered. We
explored how one type of behavioural plasticity, foraging flexibility, was
associated with inhibitory control (assayed using a detour-reaching task)
and exploration behaviour in a novel environment (a trait closely linked
to the fast-slow personality axis). We investigated how these effects
varied across two experimentally manipulated ecological contexts, food
value and predation risk. In the first phase of the experiment, we trained
great tits Parus major to retrieve high value (preferred) food that was
hidden in sand so that this became the familiar food source. In the second
phase, we offered them the same familiar hidden food at the same time as a
new alternative option that was visible on the surface, which was either
high or low value, and under either high or low perceived predation risk.
Foraging flexibility was defined as the proportion of choices made during
four minute trials that were for the new alternative food source. Our
assays captured consistent differences among individuals in foraging
flexibility. Inhibitory control was associated with foraging flexibility -
birds with high inhibitory control were more flexible when the alternative
food was high value, suggesting they inhibited the urge to select the
familiar food and instead selected the new food option. Exploration
behaviour also predicted flexibility – fast explorers were more flexible,
supporting the information gathering hypothesis. This tendency was
especially strong under high predation risk, suggesting risk aversion also
influenced the observed flexibility because fast explorers are risk prone
and the new unfamiliar food was perceived to be the risky option. Thus,
both behaviours predicted flexibility, and these links were at least
partly dependent on ecological conditions. Our results demonstrate that an
executive cognitive function (inhibitory control) and a behavioural assay
of a well-known personality axis are both associated with individual
variation in the plasticity of a key functional behaviour. That their
effects on foraging flexibility were primarily observed as interactions
with food value or predation risk treatments also suggests that the
population level consequences of some behavioural mechanisms may only be
revealed across key ecological conditions.