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Associative memory or algorithmic search: a comparative study on learning strategies of bats and shrews

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Abstract

Two common strategies for successful foraging are learning to associate specific sensory cues with patches of prey (“associative learning”) and using set decision-making rules to systematically scan for prey (“algorithmic search”). We investigated whether an animal’s life history affects which of these two foraging strategies it is likely to use. Natterer’s bats (Myotis nattereri) have slow life-history traits and we predicted they would be more likely to use associative learning. Common shrews (Sorex araneus) have fast life-history traits and we predicted that they would rely more heavily on routine-based search. Apart from their marked differences in life-history traits, these two mammals are similar in body size, brain weight, habitat, and diet. We assessed foraging strategy, associative learning ability, and retention time with a four-arm maze; one arm contained a food reward and was marked with four sensory stimuli. Bats and shrews differed significantly in their foraging strategies. Most bats learned to associate the sensory stimuli with the reward and remembered this association over time. Most shrews searched the maze using consistent decision-making rules, but did not learn or remember the association. We discuss these results in terms of life-history traits and other key differences between these species. Our results suggest a link between an animal’s life-history strategy and its use of associative learning.

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Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Leonie Baier, Daniela A. Schmieder, and Heidi Müller for their help conducting experiments; to Renate Heckel for animal care; to Sándor Zsebők for his help with statistical analysis; and to John Christy, Paul A. Faure, Michaela Hau, and John M. Ratcliffe for their valuable comments on the manuscript. Special thanks to the Tübingen bat group, especially Ingrid Kaipf and Annette Denzinger, for hosting us (SvM) and giving us access to two M. nattereri in the Tübingen bat house. This study was funded by the Max Planck Society (BMS) and an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (RAP).

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  1. Rachel A. Page

    Present address: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, MRC 0580-06, Apartado, 0843-03092, Panama, Republic of Panama

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  1. Sensory Ecology Group, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Eberhard-Gwinner-Straße, 82319, Seewiesen, Germany

    Rachel A. Page, Sophie von Merten & Björn M. Siemers

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Rachel A. Page and Sophie von Merten contributed equally to this work.

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Page, R.A., von Merten, S. & Siemers, B.M. Associative memory or algorithmic search: a comparative study on learning strategies of bats and shrews. Anim Cogn 15, 495–504 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-012-0474-1

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