Association and reversal learning abilities in a jumping spider

The ability to learn and overwrite learned associations allows animals to respond adaptively to changes in their environment. However, such behavioural plasticity is presumed to be costly and the question arises to which extent animals with restricted neuronal capacity are capable of such flexible behaviour. In this study, we investigated the learning and reversal learning abilities of a jumping spider (Marpissa muscosa). In two discrimination tasks spiders had to associate colour in the first task and colour or location in the second task as a predictor of a food reward. Results show that spiders were able to quickly form and reverse associations. Individuals show differences in their learning success and in their preference of which cues they used (colour vs. location) as a reward's predictor. These results highlight the potential for flexible behaviour in species with small neuronal capacities and short life spans.