Texas field crickets (Gryllus texensis) use visual cues to place learn but perform poorly when intra- and extra-maze cues conflict

Central place foraging field crickets are an ideal system for studying the adaptive value of learning and memory, but more research is needed on ecology-relevant cognition in these invertebrates. Here, we test the visuospatial place learning of Texas field crickets (Gryllus texensis) in a radial arm maze. Our study expands previous work on G. texensis cognition for accuracy measures and extends our previous findings on females to both sexes. Additionally, our study examines whether crickets use intra- or extra-maze cues to locate a food reward using a maze rotation putting the cues in conflict. We found that male and female crickets improved performance over trials when measured by accuracy variables but not latency variables; thigmotaxis negatively impacted performance in both sexes. In a reward-absent trial, both male and female crickets demonstrated place memory. When intra- and extra-maze cues conflicted during a rotation trial, crickets’ performance was not better than chance. Our ...