Birgit Szabo, Eva Ringler

How cognition evolved remains a debated “hot-topic” in the field of animal cognition. Current hypotheses link variation in sociality, ecology, and more generally, environmental challenges to differences in cognitive development, both between as well as within species. Research supporting the Social Intelligence Hypothesis, which states that cognition evolved to deal with social challenges, is largely focused on highly social mammal and bird species, limiting our ability to evaluate the general applicability of the hypothesis. Unfortunately, developmental studies which can reveal the causal link between early life experiences and cognitive development are scare. The aim of this study was to test the effect of the early post-natal social environment on the development of neophobia, exploration, food motivation, habituation and associative learning in a social lizard, the tokay gecko (Gekko gecko). We did not find evidence that the early social rearing environment influenced object neophobia. However, our results show that the early social environment influenced the time taken to enter a novel space and the variation in associative learning. We discuss our findings in the light of the Social Intelligence Hypothesis taking into account the facultative sociality nature of our study system. Our study provides new insight into how cognitive benefits associated with group living might have promoted the evolution of more complex social structures in animals.