Do early environmental experiences impact numerical discrimination abilities in a lizard?

Do early environmental experiences impact numerical discrimination abilities in a lizard? | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Do early environmental experiences impact numerical discrimination abilities in a lizard? Pablo Recio, Dalton C. Leibold, Ondi L. Crino, Cristopher R. Friesen, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5438810/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract From social behaviour to navigating complex environments, quantitative abilities can be crucial to fitness. However, early life conditions can impact brain development to affect quantitative competence. For example, early thermal conditions or glucocorticoid concentrations (GCs) – stress-related hormones transmitted by the parents – can play a prominent role in shaping cognition through their effects on brain physiology. Furthermore, temperature can lead to increased levels of GCs that can be transmitted to offspring, emphasizing the need to study the combined effects of these two factors. Here, we investigated the effects of elevated prenatal corticosterone (CORT) – the main GC in reptiles – and incubation temperature on numerical discrimination in the common garden skink ( Lampropholis guichenoti ). We assessed numerical abilities through a spontaneous choice test with food as a stimulus. Employing a repeated measures design, we subjected lizards to five numerical tests each differing in the ratios between the two choices (1 VS 4, 1 VS 3, 2 VS 4, 2 VS 3, 3 VS 4). Contrary to our predictions, we found no evidence for treatment effects on lizard behaviour and no use of numerical discrimination during foraging in L. guichenoti . Our findings build on previous studies suggesting that reptiles feeding on live prey may have difficulty distinguishing between different prey quantities. Despite our results, further investigation of numerical abilities in live-prey-feeding reptiles and the impact of early conditions on other taxa is warranted, as these areas remain understudied. Numerical discrimination Corticosterone Temperature Reptiles Early life stress Cognitive abilities Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5438810","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":378748619,"identity":"6fcb4f19-140c-4f58-803b-b7de89c44169","order_by":0,"name":"Pablo Recio","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABCUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACfv4GBgbGBgsIL4HBBkgyNh7Ap0VyxgGQFgmYljSQlga8WgwOJCBpYWA4DCYJaDnA9uDnDgk5BunDBz88qDhvt7b9MNCWGptonA473MBu2HtGwpiBLy1ZIuHM7eRtZxKBWo6l5Tbg0MIHtEWCt00isYGHx4whse12stkBoBbGhsM4tTAcSGCT/AvWwv8NqOVcstn5h/i1CAC1SENtYQNqOWBndoOALZIzDrYbywL9wsbDZgz0S3KC2Q2gLQl4/MLP33zs4dsdNnL8PMwPP/6osLM3O5/+8MGHGhvcfmFgbANTbFBuIlhlAk7lKIohwB6/4lEwCkbBKBiJAADzSV/88kfhEAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5890-0218","institution":"Australian National University College of Science: Australian National University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Pablo","middleName":"","lastName":"Recio","suffix":""},{"id":378748620,"identity":"25127dab-5339-4f09-bc48-1ce081670843","order_by":1,"name":"Dalton C. 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However, early life conditions can impact brain development to affect quantitative competence. For example, early thermal conditions or glucocorticoid concentrations (GCs) \u0026ndash; stress-related hormones transmitted by the parents \u0026ndash; can play a prominent role in shaping cognition through their effects on brain physiology. Furthermore, temperature can lead to increased levels of GCs that can be transmitted to offspring, emphasizing the need to study the combined effects of these two factors. Here, we investigated the effects of elevated prenatal corticosterone (CORT) \u0026ndash; the main GC in reptiles \u0026ndash; and incubation temperature on numerical discrimination in the common garden skink (\u003cem\u003eLampropholis guichenoti\u003c/em\u003e). We assessed numerical abilities through a spontaneous choice test with food as a stimulus. Employing a repeated measures design, we subjected lizards to five numerical tests each differing in the ratios between the two choices (1 VS 4, 1 VS 3, 2 VS 4, 2 VS 3, 3 VS 4). Contrary to our predictions, we found no evidence for treatment effects on lizard behaviour and no use of numerical discrimination during foraging in \u003cem\u003eL. guichenoti\u003c/em\u003e. Our findings build on previous studies suggesting that reptiles feeding on live prey may have difficulty distinguishing between different prey quantities. Despite our results, further investigation of numerical abilities in live-prey-feeding reptiles and the impact of early conditions on other taxa is warranted, as these areas remain understudied.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Do early environmental experiences impact numerical discrimination abilities in a lizard?","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-12-13 17:29:02","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5438810/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"44f7b116-f22b-46ea-8b48-cc3372e3badf","owner":[],"postedDate":"December 13th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-02-26T15:21:15+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-12-13 17:29:02","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-5438810","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-5438810","identity":"rs-5438810","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}