Linking personality and cognition: expression of aggression is independent of inhibitory control in a free-living female songbird
Description
Data from a series of experiments in which we measured aggression, neophobia and inhibitory control in female free-living blue tits. The data is in Excel (.xlsx) format and there is a README document explaining the details of the variables.
Files
Steps to reproduce
To measure aggression, neophobia and inhibitory control, we performed simulated territorial intrusions, novel object tests and detour-reaching tasks in the wild during the breeding season. Aggression was measured by placing a caged taxidermy decoy on top of the nest box on the day of the 3rd and 7th egg during the egg-laying phase, and counting the number of pecks during a 5-minute observation period. Neophobia was measured as the latency to enter the nest box after placing a novel object on the roof of the nest box, which was done on day 10 (in the first year) or day 7 (in the second year) after hatching of the young. One day after the novel object test, birds were trained to fly around an opaque barrier placed in front of the nest box entrance. The next day, this barrier was replaced by a transparent barrier, and we measured inhibitory control as the ratio of successful visits (out of the first 10 attempts) to enter the nest box without hitting the barrier. For more details, please refer to the accompanying paper of the same name, in which the methods are described in greater detail.
Institutions
- Universiteit AntwerpenAntwerpen