BACKGROUND Increasingly, it is recognized that the microbes resident in the gastrointestinal
tract can influence brain physiology and behavior. Research has shown that the …

Cognition is defined as the processes by which animals collect, retain and use information
from their environment to guide their behaviour. Thus cognition is essential in a wide range of …

Research into proximate and ultimate mechanisms of individual cognitive variation in animal
populations is a rapidly growing field that incorporates physiological, behavioural and …

Interest in the evolutionary origin and maintenance of individual behavioural variation and
behavioural plasticity has increased in recent years. 2. Consistent individual behavioural …

The open field activity monitoring system comprehensively assesses locomotor and behavioral
activity levels of mice. It is a useful tool for assessing locomotive impairment in animal …

Cognition has been studied intensively for several decades, but the evolutionary processes
that shape individual variation in cognitive traits remain elusive [1–3]. For instance, the …

Competitive ability is a major determinant of fitness, but why individuals vary so much in their
competitiveness remains only partially understood. One increasingly prevalent view is that …

Temperament traits increasingly provide a focus for investigating the evolutionary ecology
of behavioural variation. Here, we examine the underlying causes and selective …

Behavioural traits generally and cognitive traits in particular are relatively understudied in
an evolutionary ecological context. One reason for this is that such traits are often difficult to …

Animal ‘personalities’ or behavioural syndromes can be defined as individual differences in
suites of correlated behaviours. Using chaffinches Fringilla coelebs temporarily held in …