Life Sciences Commons^™

Novelty Induces Behavioural And Glucocorticoid Responses In A Songbird Artificially Selected For Divergent Personalities, Alexander T. Baugh, Kailyn Faye R. Witonsky , '16, S. C. Davidson, Laura P. Hyder , '16, M. Hau, K. Van Oers

Biology Faculty Works

Stress physiology is thought to contribute to individual differences in behaviour. In part this reflects the fact that canonical personality measures consist of responses to challenges, including novel objects and environments. Exposure to novelty is typically assumed to induce a moderate increase in glucocorticoids (CORT), although this has rarely been tested. We tested this assumption using great tits, Parus major, selected for divergent personalities (bold-fast and shy-slow explorers), predicting that the shy birds would exhibit higher CORT following exposure to a novel object. We also scored behavioural responses to the novel object, predicting that bold birds would more frequently approach …