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Replication data for " Action control across ontogeny in precocial Japanese quail: Limited evidence for developmental change"

(2025)
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Abstract
Response inhibition (RI), the stopping of actions, is central to adaptive behaviour and is often reported to improve across development. However, it remains unclear whether such ontogenetic improvements in RI, or in action control more broadly, occur consistently across taxa. Here, we tested this in Japanese quails (Coturnix japonica) using a stop-change task in which a sudden change in reward location required birds to halt their initial approach and redirect movement toward a new location. 60 birds were initially tested longitudinally across three life stages (chick, juvenile, and adult), and 30 birds were tested cross-sectionally as adults to disentangle developmental change from repeated task exposure; attrition and task-related exclusions reduced sample sizes for some analyses. Behaviour was quantified using two measures of action control: pause (brief interruption or deceleration in speed following signal onset) and retuning (full cancellation of the initial approach toward the original food location and/or running towards the new food location). We found limited evidence for developmental change, with no improvement in pausing or action retuning across age. Differences between longitudinal and cross-sectional adults were primarily explained by variation in movement dynamics at signal onset, rather than by differences in subsequent action control. Movement speed increased with task experience, and faster-moving individuals were more likely to pause, as were smaller individuals and females within the longitudinal cohort. These findings suggest that action control may be established early in precocial species, while behavioural variation across development is more strongly linked to movement dynamics, experience and individual traits.
Keywords
avian cognition, development, pause-then-cancel, response inhibition, stop-change task
License
CC-BY-4.0
Access
open access

Citation

Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:

@misc{01KA99JK1Y0JPXBQBCT9C9KW8C,
  abstract     = {{Response inhibition (RI), the stopping of actions, is central to adaptive behaviour and is often reported to improve across development. However, it remains unclear whether such ontogenetic improvements in RI, or in action control more broadly, occur consistently across taxa. Here, we tested this in Japanese quails (Coturnix japonica) using a stop-change task in which a sudden change in reward location required birds to halt their initial approach and redirect movement toward a new location. 60 birds were initially tested longitudinally across three life stages (chick, juvenile, and adult), and 30 birds were tested cross-sectionally as adults to disentangle developmental change from repeated task exposure; attrition and task-related exclusions reduced sample sizes for some analyses. Behaviour was quantified using two measures of action control: pause (brief interruption or deceleration in speed following signal onset) and retuning (full cancellation of the initial approach toward the original food location and/or running towards the new food location). We found limited evidence for developmental change, with no improvement in pausing or action retuning across age. Differences between longitudinal and cross-sectional adults were primarily explained by variation in movement dynamics at signal onset, rather than by differences in subsequent action control. Movement speed increased with task experience, and faster-moving individuals were more likely to pause, as were smaller individuals and females within the longitudinal cohort. These findings suggest that action control may be established early in precocial species, while behavioural variation across development is more strongly linked to movement dynamics, experience and individual traits.}},
  author       = {{Dewulf, Anneleen and Willcox, Kathryn and Lombaert, Mira and Martel, An and Robert Madden, Joah and Lens, Luc and Verbruggen, Frederick}},
  keywords     = {{avian cognition,development,pause-then-cancel,response inhibition,stop-change task}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{OSF}},
  title        = {{Replication data for " Action control across ontogeny in precocial Japanese quail: Limited evidence for developmental change"}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/USPXZ}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}

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