Data from: Discrimination reversal learning reveals greater female behavioural flexibility in guppies

Behavioural flexibility allows an animal to adapt its behaviour in response to changes in the environment. Research conducted in primates, rodents and domestic fowl suggests greater behavioural persistence and reduced behavioural flexibility in males. We investigated sex differences in behavioural flexibility in fish by comparing male and female guppies (Poecilia reticulata) in a reversal learning task. Fish were first trained on a colour discrimination, which was learned equally rapidly by males and females. However, once the reward contingency was reversed, females were better at inhibiting previous response and reached criterion twice as fast as males. When reward reversing was repeated, males gradually reduced the number of errors and the two sexes had a comparable performance after four reversals. We suggest that sex differences in behavioural flexibility in guppies can be explained in terms of the different roles that males and females play in reproduction.行为灵活性（behavioural flexibility）是指动物能够根据环境变化调整自身行为的能力。针对灵长类、啮齿类与家禽开展的相关研究显示，雄性个体往往表现出更强的行为持续性，同时其行为灵活性有所降低。本研究以鱼类为研究对象，通过对比雌雄孔雀鱼（Poecilia reticulata）在逆转学习任务中的表现，探究其行为灵活性的性别差异。实验首先对孔雀鱼开展颜色辨别训练，雌雄个体的学习速度并无显著差异。然而当奖励关联（reward contingency）反转后，雌性个体更善于抑制先前形成的行为反应，达到实验判定标准的速度是雄性的两倍。当重复开展奖励关联反转实验时，雄性个体的错误次数逐渐减少，经过四次反转后，雌雄两性的实验表现已无显著差异。本研究提出，孔雀鱼行为灵活性的性别差异，可通过雌雄个体在繁殖过程中所承担的不同角色进行解释。