Predation risk during early ontogeny can impact developmental trajectories and permanently alter adult phenotypes. Such phenotypic plasticity often leads to adaptive changes in traits involved in anti-predator responses. While plastic changes in cognition may increase survival, it remains unclear whether early predation experience shapes cognitive investment and drives developmental plasticity in cognitive abilities. Here, we show that predation risk during early ontogeny induces developmental plasticity in two cognitive domains. We reared female guppies Poecilia reticulata with and without predator cues and tested their adult cognitive abilities. We found that females reared under simulated predation took longer to learn a simple association task, yet outperformed animals reared without predation threat in a reversal learning task testing cognitive flexibility. These results show that predation pressure during ontogeny shapes adult cognitive abilities, which we argue is likely to be adaptive. Our study highlights the important role of predator-mediated developmental plasticity on cognitive investment in natural populations and the general role of plasticity in cognitive performance.

中文翻译：

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早期捕食风险影响成人学习和认知灵活性

早期个体发育期间的捕食风险会影响发育轨迹并永久改变成体表型。这种表型可塑性通常会导致与反捕食者反应相关的性状发生适应性变化。虽然认知的可塑性变化可能会增加存活率，但尚不清楚早期捕食经历是否会影响认知投资并推动认知能力的发展可塑性。在这里，我们表明早期个体发育期间的捕食风险会诱导两个认知领域的发育可塑性。我们饲养了雌性孔雀鱼Poecilia reticulata有和没有捕食者线索，并测试了他们的成人认知能力。我们发现，在模拟捕食下饲养的雌性需要更长的时间来学习一个简单的关联任务，但在测试认知灵活性的逆转学习任务中，其表现优于没有捕食威胁的动物。这些结果表明个体发育过程中的捕食压力塑造了成人的认知能力，我们认为这可能是适应性的。我们的研究强调了捕食者介导的发育可塑性对自然种群认知投资的重要作用以及可塑性在认知表现中的一般作用。