Individuality in risk-tolerance and learning effects in non-steady locomotion of guinea fowl

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by Monica Daley, UC Irvine

Abstract

We are interested in how animals adapt their locomotor strategies over short and long timescales to balance multiple task-level performance demands, such as speed, economy, stability and injury avoidance. Our recent study of turning maneuvers suggests that individual variation in non-steady locomotor behavior is strongly correlated with bold-shy personality expression, an indicator of risk-taking propensity. Shy individuals run slowly but fall rarely, whereas bold-individuals run faster but fall more frequently. We are currently developing a theoretical framework that includes probabilistic risk models and individual variation in risk perception and acceptable risk tolerance to predict path planning and maneuvering strategies in non-steady locomotor tasks.