Supplementary Data, Scripts, and Analysis for Shpoliansky et al. (2025)

Cultural traditions have been suggested to affect cognition and problem solving, either through gene-culture coevolution or by shaping cognitive development, but empirical support for these hypotheses remain limited. Here, we tested whether experience with a culturally transmitted foraging skill, pinecone opening, affects problem-solving performance in wild-caught black rats (<i>Rattus rattus</i>). Rats from a pinecone-opening population and from a nearby naïve population were presented with two novel extractive foraging tasks. In a suspended tube–basket task, overall success did not differ between groups, but pinecone-opening rats solved the task more efficiently using less force. In contrast, in a ground-based puzzle grid, the greater persistence and forcefulness of naïve rats led to higher engagement and higher success. These contrasting outcomes suggest that cultural experience can affect behavioural persistence, problem solving, and object manipulation styles. This influence appears to produce task-specific effects - enhancing performance in some domains but reducing it in others, rather than conferring a general cognitive advantage. Accordingly, cultural traditions can have mixed effects on how individuals approach novel challenges, implying nuanced pathways through which culture and cognition interact.