Abstract In many species, males signal quality with elaborate traits, but females often show inter-individual variation in preference for these traits. Choosing a mate requires multiple cognitive steps; therefore, cognitive style (how an individual processes information) likely influences the perception of sexual signals and ability to choose a high-quality mate. An important component of cognitive style is flexibility; cognitively flexible individuals are more perceptive to shifts in cues. We hypothesized that cognitively flexible individuals would acquire more information about potential mates, better discern between two quality-signaling traits, and thus be more discriminatory. Here, we show that mate assessment is correlated to other cognitive traits. Although we did not detect an effect of cognitive style on mate preference or discrimination, we found that female threespine sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus that spent more time assessing potential mates (more responsive) in a dichotomous mate choice task reached both the initial and reversal learning criterion in a spatial learning task with fewer errors. However, these highly responsive females made more consecutive mistakes immediately at the beginning of the reversal phase, suggesting that they did not quickly adapt to the environmental change but instead rapidly formed strict routines during the learning task that were eventually reversible after repeated errors. Furthermore, we found evidence for condition-dependent mate preference, with larger females preferring the high-quality male. These are among the first results that illustrate how cognitive traits might influence mate choice, which has implications for the strength and direction of sexual selection.

中文翻译：

---

配偶评估行为与雌性三刺棘鱼的学习能力相关

摘要 在许多物种中，雄性通过复杂的性状表明品质，但雌性往往表现出对这些性状偏好的个体间差异。选择配偶需要多个认知步骤；因此，认知风格（个人如何处理信息）可能会影响对性信号的感知和选择优质伴侣的能力。认知风格的一个重要组成部分是灵活性；认知灵活的个体对线索的变化更敏感。我们假设认知灵活的个体会获得更多关于潜在配偶的信息，更好地辨别两种质量信号特征，从而更具歧视性。在这里，我们表明配偶评估与其他认知特征相关。虽然我们没有发现认知风格对择偶偏好或歧视的影响，我们发现雌性三脊棘鱼 Gasterosteus aculeatus 在二分配偶选择任务中花费更多时间评估潜在配偶（反应更灵敏），在空间学习任务中达到初始和逆转学习标准，错误更少。然而，这些反应灵敏的雌性在逆转阶段开始时立即犯了更多的连续错误，这表明它们并没有迅速适应环境变化，而是在学习任务中迅速形成了严格的套路，在重复错误后最终可以逆转。此外，我们发现了条件依赖性配偶偏好的证据，较大的雌性更喜欢高质量的雄性。这些是说明认知特征如何影响配偶选择的首批结果之一，