Uninhibited chickens: ranging behavior impacts motor self-regulation in free-range broiler chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus)

Inhibiting impulsive, less flexible behaviors is of utmost importance for individual adaptation in an ever-changing environment. However, problem-solving tasks may be greatly impacted by individual differences in behavior, since animals with distinct behavioral types perceive and interact with their environment differently, resulting in variable responses to the same stimuli. Here, we tested whether and how differences in ranging behavior of free-range chickens affect motor self-regulation performance during a cylinder task. For this task, subjects must refrain from trying to reach a food reward through the walls of a transparent cylinder and detour to its open sides, as a sign of inhibition. Free-range chickens exhibited an overall low performance in the motor self-regulation task (31.33% ± 13.55% of correct responses), however high rangers showed significantly poorer performance than the low rangers (23.75% ± 9.16% vs 40% ± 12.90%, respectively). These results give further support to the impacts of individual behavioral differences on cognitive performances. This is the first demonstration to our knowledge of a relationship between exploratory tendencies and motor self-regulation for an avian species.

在瞬息万变的环境中，抑制冲动且灵活性欠佳的行为，对个体的环境适应至关重要。然而，解决问题的任务极易受到个体行为差异的影响：具有不同行为类型的动物，其对环境的感知与互动方式存在显著区别，进而对相同刺激产生各异的响应。本研究以散养鸡（free-range chickens）为受试对象，探究其漫游行为的个体差异是否，以及如何影响其在圆筒任务（cylinder task）中的动作自我调控（motor self-regulation）表现。该任务要求受试个体克制通过透明圆筒侧壁尝试获取食物奖励的行为，转而绕行至圆筒的开放侧取食，以此作为抑制控制能力的体现。散养鸡在动作自我调控任务中的整体表现偏低，正确作答率仅为31.33% ± 13.55%；其中高漫游型个体的表现显著差于低漫游型个体，二者的正确作答率分别为23.75% ± 9.16%与40% ± 12.90%。上述结果进一步佐证了个体行为差异对认知表现的影响。据我们所知，本研究首次证实了鸟类的探索倾向与动作自我调控之间存在关联。