DOI: 10.5061/dryad.djh9w0w88
title: Data from: Fast exploration is coupled with a less choosy but more reactive learning style in a generalist predator

description: The hypothesis of slow-fast syndromes predicts a correlation between
 personality type and learning style; fast explorers would have a more
 proactive (fast but inflexible) learning style whereas slow explorers
 would be more reactive (slow but flexible) learners.  Empirical
 evidence for this personality-cognition coupling remains inconclusive and
 heavily biased towards birds. Moreover, most studies did not examine the
 personality-cognition correlation when the cognitive task is discerning
 food quality, a scenario directly related to energy acquisition that
 underpins the evolution of slow-fast syndromes. In this study, we examined
 the exploration-cognition correlation in the context of
 avoidance learning in an opportunistic predator - the common sun skink
 Eutropis multifasciata. We quantified exploration tendencies of
 individuals in an unfamiliar environment and compared foraging behaviors
 when lizards associated prey color and taste during the initial learning
 trials and subsequent reverse learning trials, where the color-taste
 associations were switched. We found that fast explorers were less choosy
 and modified their foraging behaviors less with experience, conforming to
 a more proactive cognitive style. In contrast, slow explorers were
 reactive learners and were able to change foraging behaviors in both
 learning and reverse learning phases, even though the ability to do so
 depended on the color-taste treatment. Contrary to conventional
 predictions, the proactive-reactive learning styles in our focal species
 was not differentiated by a learning speed-flexibility trade-off. Our
 findings offer nuanced support to the slow-fast syndromes and suggest that
 the two types of exploration-cognition correlations could be different
 responses to fast-changing environmental predictability.
description: Please see main paper for details on data collection and
 analyses.
description: **Data from: Fast exploration is coupled with a less choosy but more
 reactive learning style in a generalist predator** This study examined
 personality-cognition correlations in a generalist lizard predator, the
 common sun skink. We found that fast explorers were less choosy towards
 low-quality prey and modified their foraging behaviours more with the
 accumulation of information, whereas slow explorers exhibited the opposite
 learning style. List of files: boldness.csv: raw data from exploration
 trials **id:** unique ID of the individual\ **sex:** sex of the
 individual\ **exp:** exploration trial number (1 = the 1st trial, 2 = the
 2nd trial)\ **1stMove:** moving latency in seconds\ **cross:** time until
 first entering the exploration area in seconds\ **distanced_moved:** raw
 distance moved in the duration of a trial in unit of pixel\
 **time_novel:** total time in seconds during which the lizard was in the
 exploration area\ **total_time:** total observation time in seconds\
 **distance_moved_st:** distance moved standardized by total observation
 time ( = distance_moved/total_time)\ **time_novel_st:** percent time in
 the novel environment ( = time_novel/total_time)\ **pc1:** score of the
 first principal component\ **pc2:** score of the second principal
 component reverse learning.csv: tabulated raw data from learning and
 reverse learning trials **id:** unique ID of the individual\ **sex:** sex
 of the individual\ **group:** the colour associated with bitterness in the
 trial (R = red, Y = yellow)\ **exp:** number of the daily trial. Trials
 1-5 belong to the learning phase and 6-10 to the reverse learning phase\
 **exp_date:** date of the trial, in format of MM-DD-YYYY\ **latency:**
 time until the lizard attacked the first cricket in seconds\ **prey1:**
 type of first prey attacked (P = palatable/normal, U =
 unpalatable/bitter)\ **unpalatable_50:** number of bitter crickets
 attacked among the first 50% of crickets attacked\ **total_50:** number of
 first 50% of the crickets attacked\ **palatable_50**: umber of normal
 crickets attacked among the first 50% of crickets attacked\
 **unpalatable_consumed:** number of bitter crickets consumed\
 **total_consumed:** total number of crickets consumed\
 **palatable_consumed:** number of normal crickets consumed\ **prey1_2:**
 different coding of prey1 (1 = palatable/normal, 0 = unpalatable/bitter)
 for logistic GLM\ **percent_unpalatable_50:** unpalatable_50/total_50\
 **percent_unpalatable_consumed:** unpalatable_consumed/total_consumed\
 **group2:** RY = individuals that associated first red (learning phase)
 and then yellow (reverse learning phase) with bitterness; YR = individuals
 that experienced the opposite colour treatment stats.R: R code for
 statistical analyses and data visualization in this study Suppl
 tables.docx: Seven supplemental tables containing data on the number of
 control and bitter crickets attacked or consumed in each trial by slow and
 fast explorers belonging to each color-taste treatment and by individuals
 of each sex. See manuscript for details.