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Pessimistic cognitive bias is associated with enhanced reproductive investment in female zebrafish
Publication . Espigares, Felipe; Alvarado, Maria V.; Faísca, Pedro; Abad-Tortosa, Diana; Oliveira, Rui Filipe
Optimistic and pessimistic cognitive biases have been described in many
animals and are related to the perceived valence of the environment. We,
therefore, hypothesize that such cognitive bias can be adaptive depending
on environmental conditions. In reward-rich environments, an optimistic
bias would be favoured, whereas in harsh environments, a pessimistic one
would thrive. Here, we empirically investigated the potential adaptive
value of such bias using zebrafish as a model. We first phenotyped female
zebrafish in an optimistic/pessimistic axis using a previously validated judgement bias assay. Optimistic and pessimistic females were then exposed to
an unpredictable chronic stress protocol for 17 days, after which fish were
euthanized and the sectional area of the different ovarian structures was
quantified in both undisturbed and stressed groups. Our results show that
zebrafish ovarian development responded to chronic stress, and that judgement bias impacted the relative area of the vitellogenic developmental stage,
with pessimists showing higher vitellogenic areas as compared with optimists. These results suggest that pessimism maximizes reproductive
investment, through increased vitellogenesis, indicating a relationship
between cognitive bias and life-history organismal decisions.
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Entidade financiadora
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Programa de financiamento
3599-PPCDT
Número da atribuição
PTDC/BIA-COM/31010/2017