Abstract Behavioural innovations allow an individual to solve new problems or find new solutions to an existing problem. Despite being considered an important source of phenotypic plasticity and evolutionary changes, innovative problem-solving remains poorly understood, except in a few species of mammals and birds. We investigated innovative problem-solving performance and its underlying psychological mechanisms in a teleost fish, the guppy Poecilia reticulata . We assayed guppies in Thorndike’s puzzle-box problem: we placed them in a small chamber, where they had to learn to dislodge an object to access a tunnel leading to their home tank. Guppies showed heightened performance with most individuals (23 out of 24) solving the problem, within, on average, three trials. After a fish solved the task for the first time, improvement was still visible in the form of an increased likelihood to solve the problem over trials. An individual’s sex and willingness to solve the task were unimportant, but behavioural traits related to neophilia significantly predicted problem-solving performance. High exploration in a new environment and high attraction towards novel objects favoured the guppies in learning the task solution. Our finding suggested that this fish species shows remarkable performance and individuality in innovative problem-solving. As observed in warm-blooded vertebrates, these cognitive features may have important consequences for individual fitness and the species’ invasiveness in nature. Significance statement Behavioural innovation is an important mechanism that allows animals to adapt to their environment. Among the others, it permits solving new problems and obtaining new resources. However, innovative problem-solving remains poorly understood except for a few species of mammals and birds. Our study suggests that fish can learn a novel problem-solving task and improve over time to find the solution. Fish learned to dislodge an object to access a tunnel leading to their home tank. Problem-solving performance was linked to the propensity to explore novel objects and novel environments. Individuals with greater neophilia may have higher propensities for innovative problem-solving.

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拼图盒中的孔雀鱼：硬骨鱼创新解决问题的方法

摘要 行为创新使个人能够解决新问题或为现有问题找到新的解决方案。尽管被认为是表型可塑性和进化变化的重要来源，但除少数哺乳动物和鸟类外，对创新性问题的解决仍然知之甚少。我们研究了一种硬骨鱼，即孔雀鱼 Poecilia reticulata 的创新解决问题表现及其潜在的心理机制。我们在 Thorndike 的拼图盒问题中分析了孔雀鱼：我们把它们放在一个小房间里，在那里它们必须学会移开物体才能进入通向它们家水族箱的隧道。大多数人（24 人中有 23 人）在平均 3 次试验中解决了问题，Guppies 表现出更高的表现。一条鱼第一次完成任务后，在通过试验解决问题的可能性增加方面，改进仍然可见。一个人的性别和解决任务的意愿并不重要，但与恋童癖相关的行为特征显着预测了解决问题的表现。在新环境中的高度探索和对新物体的高度吸引力有利于孔雀鱼学习任务解决方案。我们的发现表明，这种鱼类在创新解决问题方面表现出非凡的表现和个性。正如在温血脊椎动物中所观察到的那样，这些认知特征可能对个体健康和物种在自然界中的侵入性产生重要影响。意义声明 行为创新是动物适应环境的重要机制。其中，它允许解决新问题并获得新资源。然而，除了少数哺乳动物和鸟类之外，人们对创新的问题解决方法仍然知之甚少。我们的研究表明，鱼可以学习一项新的解决问题的任务，并随着时间的推移不断改进以找到解决方案。鱼学会了移开物体以进入通向其家庭水族箱的隧道。解决问题的表现与探索新物体和新环境的倾向有关。新恋情更严重的人可能更倾向于创新解决问题。鱼学会了移开物体以进入通向其家庭水族箱的隧道。解决问题的表现与探索新物体和新环境的倾向有关。新恋情更严重的人可能更倾向于创新解决问题。鱼学会了移开物体以进入通向其家庭水族箱的隧道。解决问题的表现与探索新物体和新环境的倾向有关。新恋情更严重的人可能更倾向于创新地解决问题。