A trait for a high emotionality favors spatial memory to the detriment of cue-based memory in Japanese quail

Recent studies provided evidence that a personality trait such as a trait for a high or a low emotionality can either promotes or impairs learning and memory performances. This variability can be partly explained because this trait may have opposite effect on memory performances depending on the memory system involved. The present study investigated in Japanese quail the relationships between emotionality and two forms of memory, spatial-memory and cue-based memory. We showed that birds with a high emotionality trait (E+), compared with birds with a low emotionality trait (E-), reached slowly but more accurately the spatial location of a rewarded cup in an arena that contains 8 identical cups. Then a second cohort of E + and E-quails was trained to solve a dual spatial/cued task in which they could use either their spatial or cue-based memory. Whereas E + birds predominantly solved the task using their spatial memory, E-birds preferentially used their cue-based memory. These findings demonstrate that a trait for a high emotionality, can influence spatial memory performances but also contributes to favor the selection of this form of memory.