DOI: 10.5061/dryad.m63xsj4cm
title: Data from: I remember you! Multicomponent warning signals and predator memory

description: To avoid potentially noxious prey, predators need to discriminate between
 palatable and unpalatable prey species. Unpalatable prey often exhibits
 visual warning signals, which can consist of multiple components, such as
 color and pattern. Although the role of particular components of visual
 warning signals in predator discrimination learning has been intensively
 studied, the importance of different components for predator memory is
 considerably less understood. In this study, we tested adult wild-caught
 great tits (Parus major) to find out which components of prey visual
 warning signals are important when the birds learn to discriminate between
 palatable and unpalatable prey, and when they remember their experience
 over a longer time period. Birds were trained to discriminate between
 palatable and unpalatable artificial prey items that differed in both
 color and pattern. After four weeks, the birds were retested in three
 groups: the first group was presented with the same prey as in the
 training, the second group was tested with the two prey types differing
 only in color, and the third group could use only the pattern as a
 discrimination trait. The results suggest that the birds remember their
 experience with unpalatable prey even after the period of four weeks.
 Although the color appears to be more important than the pattern, the
 combination of both signal components is more effective for prey
 recognition after several weeks than either the color or pattern alone.
description: # Long-term memory experiment
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m63xsj4cm](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m63xsj4cm) ## Description of the data and file structure ### Files and variables #### File: results_all.csv **Description:**  | birdcode | individual bird code | | :---------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | age | yearlings (1K and 2K), adults (+1K and +2K) | | sex | sex | | exp\_group | experimental group (training stimulus, color only, pattern only) | | S+ | positive stimulus (=palatable prey) | | S- | negative stimulus (=unpalatable prey) | | Preferred color | The colour which was preferred during the five trials of the preference test (aka the results of the preference test), C-cyan, M-magenta | | pref1 | preferred colour in 1st trial of preference test (C-cyan, M-magenta) | | pref2 | preferred colour in 2nd trial of preference test (C-cyan, M-magenta) | | pref3 | preferred colour in 3rd trial of preference test (C-cyan, M-magenta) | | pref4 | preferred colour in 4th trial of preference test (C-cyan, M-magenta) | | pref5 | preferred colour in 5th trial of preference test (C-cyan, M-magenta) | | prefscoreC | preference score - number of trials with preferrence for Cyan | | prefCperc | preference rate - rate of trials with preferrence for Cyan | | Discrimination training |   | | pos1st5 | number of trials in which the bird preferred positive (S+) stimulus within 1st five trials of the discrimination training (aka number of correct decisions) | | pos2nd5 | number of trials in which the bird preferred positive (S+) stimulus within 2nd five trials of the discrimination training (aka number of correct decisions) | | pos1st10 | number of trials in which the bird preferred positive (S+) stimulus within 1st ten trials of the discrimination training (aka number of correct decisions) | | pos2nd10 | number of trials in which the bird preferred positive (S+) stimulus within 2nd ten trials of the discrimination training (aka number of correct decisions) | | pos3rd10 | number of trials in which the bird preferred positive (S+) stimulus within 3rd ten trials of the discrimination training (aka number of correct decisions) | | pos4th10 | number of trials in which the bird preferred positive (S+) stimulus within 4th ten trials of the discrimination training (aka number of correct decisions) | | pos1st20 | number of trials in which the bird preferred positive (S+) stimulus within 1st twenty trials of the discrimination training (aka number of correct decisions) | | pos2nd20 | number of trials in which the bird preferred positive (S+) stimulus within 2nd twenty trials of the discrimination training (aka number of correct decisions) | | Pos\_totalL | number of trials in which the bird preferred positive (S+) stimulus within entire discrimination training (aka number of correct decisions) | | Learn\_crit4 | trial number in which the bird reached learning criterion of 4 correct decisions in a row during the discrimination training | | Learn\_crit5 | trial number in which the bird reached learning criterion of 5 correct decisions in a row during the discrimination training | | LlatS\_ | S- handling latency in the 1st trial of the discrimination training | | postrial1pref | whether in the first trial of the discrimination training S+ was handled as the first one (values 0,1) | | negtrial1 | whether in the first trial of the discrimination training S- was handled at all (values 0,1) | | first10\_errors | number of trials (within the 1st ten of the entire discrimination training) in which the bird handled S- | | second10\_errors | number of trials (within the 2nd ten of the entire discrimination training) in which the bird handled S- | | third10\_errors | number of trials (within the 3rd ten of the entire discrimination training) in which the bird handled S- | | fourth10\_errors | number of trials (within the 4th ten of the entire discrimination training) in which the bird handled S- | | trial1S-eat | whether in the first trial of the discrimination training the bird attempted to eat S- at all (values 0,1) | | LS-eat | number of trials (within the entire discrimination training) in which the bird attempted to eat S- | | LS\_eat\_first10 | number of trials (within the first 10 trials of the discrimination training) in which the bird attempted to eat S- | | LS\_eat\_last10 | number of trials (within the last 10 trials of the discrimination training) in which the bird attempted to eat S- | | Next-day memory test |   | | DlatS\_ | S- handling latency in the 1st trial of the next-day memory test | | Dpos1st5 | number of trials in which the bird preferred positive (S+) stimulus within 1st five trials of next-day memory test (aka number of correct decisions) | | Dpos2nd5 | number of trials in which the bird preferred positive (S+) stimulus within 2nd five trials of next-day memory test(aka number of correct decisions) | | Dpos\_total | number of trials in which the bird preferred positive (S+) stimulus within entire next-day memory test (aka number of correct decisions) | | DS\_eat | number of trials (within the entire next-day memory test) in which the bird attempted to eat S- | | Dpostrial1pref | whether in the first trial of the next-day memory test S+ was handled as the first one (values 0,1) | | Dnegtrial1 | whether in the first trial of the next-day memory test S- was handled at all (values 0,1) | | Dfirst10\_errors | number of trials (within the 1st ten of the next-day memory test) in which the bird handled S- | | Dtrial1S\_eat | whether in the first trial of the next-day memory test the bird attempted to eat S- at all (values 0,1) | | Long-term memory test |   | | MlatS- | S- handling latency in the 1st trial of long-term memory test | | Mpos1st5 | number of trials in which the bird preferred positive (S+) stimulus within 1st five trials of the long-term memory test (aka number of correct decisions) | | Mpos2nd5 | number of trials in which the bird preferred positive (S+) stimulus within 2nd five trials of the long-term memory test (aka number of correct decisions) | | Mpos\_total | number of trials in which the bird preferred positive (S+) stimulus within entire long-term memory test (aka number of correct decisions) | | MS-eat | number of trials (within the entire long-term memory test) in which the bird attempted to eat S- | | Mpostrial1pref | whether in the first trial of long-term memory test S+ was handled as the first one (values 0,1) | | Mnegtrial1 | whether in the first trial of long-term memory test S- was handled at all (values 0,1) | | Mfirst10\_errors | number of trials (within the 1st ten of the long-term memory test) in which the bird handled S- | | Mtrial1S\_eat | whether in the first trial of the long-term memory test the bird attempted to eat S- at all (values 0,1) | | n/a | values not available due to missing data |