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Lambert ML, Schiestl M, Schwing R, Taylor AH, Gajdon GK, Slocombe KE, Seed AM. Function and flexibility of object exploration in kea and New Caledonian crows. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2017; 4:170652. [PMID: 28989768 PMCID: PMC5627108 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.170652] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2017] [Accepted: 08/31/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
A range of non-human animals frequently manipulate and explore objects in their environment, which may enable them to learn about physical properties and potentially form more abstract concepts of properties such as weight and rigidity. Whether animals can apply the information learned during their exploration to solve novel problems, however, and whether they actually change their exploratory behaviour to seek functional information about objects have not been fully explored. We allowed kea (Nestor notabilis) and New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides) to explore sets of novel objects both before and after encountering a task in which some of the objects could function as tools. Following this, subjects were given test trials in which they could choose among the objects they had explored to solve a tool-use task. Several individuals from both species performed above chance on these test trials, and only did so after exploring the objects, compared with a control experiment with no prior exploration phase. These results suggest that selection of functional tools may be guided by information acquired during exploration. Neither kea nor crows changed the duration or quality of their exploration after learning that the objects had a functional relevance, suggesting that birds do not adjust their behaviour to explicitly seek this information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan L. Lambert
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK
- Department of Cognitive Science, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Martina Schiestl
- Haidlhof Research Station, University of Vienna and University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Raoul Schwing
- Comparative Cognition Unit, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Alex H. Taylor
- Department of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Gyula K. Gajdon
- Comparative Cognition Unit, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Amanda M. Seed
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
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52
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Matsui H, Izawa EI. Flexible motor adjustment of pecking with an artificially extended bill in crows but not in pigeons. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2017; 4:160796. [PMID: 28386435 PMCID: PMC5367294 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.160796] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2016] [Accepted: 01/11/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
The dextrous foraging skills of primates, including humans, are underpinned by flexible vision-guided control of the arms/hands and even tools as body-part extensions. This capacity involves a visuomotor conversion process that transfers the locations of the hands/arms and a target in retinal coordinates into body coordinates to generate a reaching/grasping movement and to correct online. Similar capacities have evolved in birds, such as tool use in corvids and finches, which represents the flexible motor control of extended body parts. However, the flexibility of avian head-reaching and bill-grasping with body-part extensions remains poorly understood. This study comparatively investigated the flexibility of pecking with an artificially extended bill in crows and pigeons. Pecking performance and kinematics were examined when the bill extension was attached, and after its removal. The bill extension deteriorated pecking in pigeons in both performance and kinematics over 10 days. After the bill removal, pigeons started bill-grasping earlier, indicating motor adaptation to the bill extension. Contrastingly, pecking in crows was deteriorated transiently with the bill extension, but was recovered by adjusting pecking at closer distances, suggesting a quick adjustment to the bill extension. These results indicate flexible visuomotor control to extended body parts in crows but not in pigeons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hiroshi Matsui
- Department of Psychology, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan
- Japan Society of Promotion for Sciences, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Ei-Ichi Izawa
- Department of Psychology, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan
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53
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Maák I, Lőrinczi G, Le Quinquis P, Módra G, Bovet D, Call J, d'Ettorre P. Tool selection during foraging in two species of funnel ants. Anim Behav 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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54
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Beck SR, Williams C, Cutting N, Apperly IA, Chappell J. Individual differences in children's innovative problem-solving are not predicted by divergent thinking or executive functions. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 371:rstb.2015.0190. [PMID: 26926280 PMCID: PMC4780532 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies of children's tool innovation have revealed that there is variation in children's success in middle-childhood. In two individual differences studies, we sought to identify personal characteristics that might predict success on an innovation task. In Study 1, we found that although measures of divergent thinking were related to each other they did not predict innovation success. In Study 2, we measured executive functioning including: inhibition, working memory, attentional flexibility and ill-structured problem-solving. None of these measures predicted innovation, but, innovation was predicted by children's performance on a receptive vocabulary scale that may function as a proxy for general intelligence. We did not find evidence that children's innovation was predicted by specific personal characteristics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah R Beck
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, West Midlands, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Clare Williams
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, West Midlands, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Nicola Cutting
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, West Midlands, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Ian A Apperly
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, West Midlands, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Jackie Chappell
- School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, West Midlands, B15 2TT, UK
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55
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van Horik JO, Emery NJ. Transfer of physical understanding in a non-tool-using parrot. Anim Cogn 2016; 19:1195-1203. [PMID: 27639565 PMCID: PMC5054051 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-016-1031-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2016] [Accepted: 08/28/2016] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Physical cognition has generally been assessed in tool-using species that possess a relatively large brain size, such as corvids and apes. Parrots, like corvids and apes, also have large relative brain sizes, yet although parrots rarely use tools in the wild, growing evidence suggests comparable performances on physical cognition tasks. It is, however, unclear whether success on such tasks is facilitated by previous experience and training procedures. We therefore investigated physical comprehension of object relationships in two non-tool-using species of captive neotropical parrots on a new means-end paradigm, the Trap-Gaps task, using unfamiliar materials and modified training procedures that precluded procedural cues. Red-shouldered macaws (Diopsittaca nobilis) and black-headed caiques (Pionites melanocephala) were presented with an initial task that required them to discriminate between pulling food trays through gaps while attending to the respective width of the gaps and size of the trays. Subjects were then presented with a novel, but functionally equivalent, transfer task. Six of eight birds solved the initial task through trial-and-error learning. Four of these six birds solved the transfer task, with one caique demonstrating spontaneous comprehension. These findings suggest that non-tool-using parrots may possess capacities for sophisticated physical cognition by generalising previously learned rules across novel problems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jayden O van Horik
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK.
- Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QG, UK.
| | - Nathan J Emery
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK
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56
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Laumer IB, Bugnyar T, Auersperg AMI. Flexible decision-making relative to reward quality and tool functionality in Goffin cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana). Sci Rep 2016; 6:28380. [PMID: 27334699 PMCID: PMC4917853 DOI: 10.1038/srep28380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2016] [Accepted: 06/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Decisions involving the use of tools may require an agent to consider more levels of relational complexity than merely deciding between an immediate and a delayed option. Using a new experimental approach featuring two different types of tools, two apparatuses as well as two different types of reward, we investigated the Goffin cockatoos’ ability to make flexible and profitable decisions within five different setups. Paralleling previous results in primates, most birds overcame immediate drives in favor of future gains; some did so even if tool use involved additional work effort. Furthermore, at the group level subjects maximized their profit by simultaneously considering both the quality of an immediate versus a delayed food reward (accessible with a tool) and the functionality of the available tool. As their performance levels remained stable across trials in all testing setups, this was unlikely the result of a learning effect. The Goffin cockatoos’ ability to focus on relevant information was constrained when all task components (both food qualities, both apparatuses and both tools) were presented at the same time.
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Affiliation(s)
- I B Laumer
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstr. 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - T Bugnyar
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstr. 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - A M I Auersperg
- Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210, Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Abstract
Some birds achieve primate-like levels of cognition, even though their brains tend to be much smaller in absolute size. This poses a fundamental problem in comparative and computational neuroscience, because small brains are expected to have a lower information-processing capacity. Using the isotropic fractionator to determine numbers of neurons in specific brain regions, here we show that the brains of parrots and songbirds contain on average twice as many neurons as primate brains of the same mass, indicating that avian brains have higher neuron packing densities than mammalian brains. Additionally, corvids and parrots have much higher proportions of brain neurons located in the pallial telencephalon compared with primates or other mammals and birds. Thus, large-brained parrots and corvids have forebrain neuron counts equal to or greater than primates with much larger brains. We suggest that the large numbers of neurons concentrated in high densities in the telencephalon substantially contribute to the neural basis of avian intelligence.
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58
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Logan CJ. How far will a behaviourally flexible invasive bird go to innovate? ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2016; 3:160247. [PMID: 27429781 PMCID: PMC4929916 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.160247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2016] [Accepted: 05/12/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Behavioural flexibility is considered a key factor in the ability to adapt to changing environments. A traditional way of characterizing behavioural flexibility is to determine whether individuals invent solutions to novel problems, termed innovativeness. Great-tailed grackles are behaviourally flexible in that they can change their preferences when a task changes using existing behaviours; however, it is unknown how far they will go to invent solutions to novel problems. To begin to answer this question, I gave grackles two novel tests that a variety of other species can perform: stick tool use and string pulling. No grackle used a stick to access out-of-reach food, even after seeing a human demonstrate the solution. No grackle spontaneously pulled a vertically oriented string, but one did pull a horizontally oriented string twice. Additionally, a third novel test was previously conducted on these individuals and it was found that no grackle spontaneously dropped stones down a platform apparatus to release food, but six out of eight did become proficient after training. These results support the idea that behavioural flexibility is a multi-faceted trait because grackles are flexible, but not particularly innovative. This contradicts the idea that behavioural flexibility and innovativeness are interchangeable terms.
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59
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Tebbich S, Griffin AS, Peschl MF, Sterelny K. From mechanisms to function: an integrated framework of animal innovation. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 371:20150195. [PMID: 26926285 PMCID: PMC4780537 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/28/2015] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Animal innovations range from the discovery of novel food types to the invention of completely novel behaviours. Innovations can give access to new opportunities, and thus enable innovating agents to invade and create novel niches. This in turn can pave the way for morphological adaptation and adaptive radiation. The mechanisms that make innovations possible are probably as diverse as the innovations themselves. So too are their evolutionary consequences. Perhaps because of this diversity, we lack a unifying framework that links mechanism to function. We propose a framework for animal innovation that describes the interactions between mechanism, fitness benefit and evolutionary significance, and which suggests an expanded range of experimental approaches. In doing so, we split innovation into factors (components and phases) that can be manipulated systematically, and which can be investigated both experimentally and with correlational studies. We apply this framework to a selection of cases, showing how it helps us ask more precise questions and design more revealing experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabine Tebbich
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1090, Austria
| | - Andrea S Griffin
- School of Psychology, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales 2308, Australia
| | - Markus F Peschl
- Department of Philosophy and Cognitive Science Research Platform, University of Vienna, Vienna 1010, Austria
| | - Kim Sterelny
- School of Philosophy, Research School of the Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia
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60
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Auersperg AMI, von Bayern AMI, Weber S, Szabadvari A, Bugnyar T, Kacelnik A. Social transmission of tool use and tool manufacture in Goffin cockatoos (Cacatua goffini). Proc Biol Sci 2015; 281:rspb.2014.0972. [PMID: 25185997 PMCID: PMC4173672 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0972] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Tool use can be inherited, or acquired as an individual innovation or by social transmission. Having previously reported individual innovative tool use and manufacture by a Goffin cockatoo, we used the innovator (Figaro, a male) as a demonstrator to investigate social transmission. Twelve Goffins saw either demonstrations by Figaro, or 'ghost' controls where tools and/or food were manipulated using magnets. Subjects observing demonstrations showed greater tool-related performance than ghost controls, with all three males in this group (but not the three females) acquiring tool-using competence. Two of these three males further acquired tool-manufacturing competence. As the actions of successful observers differed from those of the demonstrator, result emulation rather than high-fidelity imitation is the most plausible transmission mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- A M I Auersperg
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, Vienna 1190, Austria Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
| | - A M I von Bayern
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Eberhard-Gwinner-Strasse 4, Seewiesen 82319, Germany
| | - S Weber
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, Vienna 1190, Austria
| | - A Szabadvari
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, Vienna 1190, Austria
| | - T Bugnyar
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, Vienna 1190, Austria
| | - A Kacelnik
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
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61
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Affiliation(s)
- Amelia Wein
- Messerli Research Institute; University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna; Medical University Vienna; University of Vienna; Vienna Austria
- Cognitive Science; Department of Philosophy; Faculty of Philosophy and Education; University of Vienna; Vienna Austria
| | - Gyula K. Gajdon
- Messerli Research Institute; University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna; Medical University Vienna; University of Vienna; Vienna Austria
| | - Raoul Schwing
- Messerli Research Institute; University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna; Medical University Vienna; University of Vienna; Vienna Austria
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62
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O’Hara M, Auersperg AMI, Bugnyar T, Huber L. Inference by Exclusion in Goffin Cockatoos (Cacatua goffini). PLoS One 2015; 10:e0134894. [PMID: 26244692 PMCID: PMC4526371 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0134894] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2015] [Accepted: 07/15/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Inference by exclusion, the ability to base choices on the systematic exclusion of alternatives, has been studied in many nonhuman species over the past decade. However, the majority of methodologies employed so far are hard to integrate into a comparative framework as they rarely use controls for the effect of neophilia. Here, we present an improved approach that takes neophilia into account, using an abstract two-choice task on a touch screen, which is equally feasible for a large variety of species. To test this approach we chose Goffin cockatoos (Cacatua goffini), a highly explorative Indonesian parrot species, which have recently been reported to have sophisticated cognitive skills in the technical domain. Our results indicate that Goffin cockatoos are able to solve such abstract two-choice tasks employing inference by exclusion but also highlight the importance of other response strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark O’Hara
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- * E-mail:
| | - Alice M. I. Auersperg
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Zoology, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Thomas Bugnyar
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Ludwig Huber
- Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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63
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Auersperg AMI, Oswald N, Domanegg M, Gajdon GK, Bugnyar T. Unrewarded Object Combinations in Captive Parrots. ANIMAL BEHAVIOR AND COGNITION 2014; 1:470-488. [PMID: 25984564 PMCID: PMC4430810 DOI: 10.12966/abc.11.05.2014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
In primates, complex object combinations during play are often regarded as precursors of functional behavior. Here we investigate combinatory behaviors during unrewarded object manipulation in seven parrot species, including kea, African grey parrots and Goffin cockatoos, three species previously used as model species for technical problem solving. We further examine a habitually tool using species, the black palm cockatoo. Moreover, we incorporate three neotropical species, the yellow- and the black-billed Amazon and the burrowing parakeet. Paralleling previous studies on primates and corvids, free object-object combinations and complex object-substrate combinations such as inserting objects into tubes/holes or stacking rings onto poles prevailed in the species previously linked to advanced physical cognition and tool use. In addition, free object-object combinations were intrinsically structured in Goffin cockatoos and in kea.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Gyula Koppany Gajdon
- University of Vienna and University of Veterinary Medicine ; University of Veterinary Medicine
| | - Thomas Bugnyar
- University of Vienna ; University of Vienna and University of Veterinary Medicine
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64
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Complexity in animal behaviour: towards common ground. Acta Ethol 2014. [DOI: 10.1007/s10211-014-0205-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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65
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66
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Brunon A, Bovet D, Bourgeois A, Pouydebat E. Motivation and manipulation capacities of the blue and yellow macaw and the tufted capuchin: A comparative approach. Behav Processes 2014; 107:1-14. [DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2014.06.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2013] [Revised: 06/01/2014] [Accepted: 06/06/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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67
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Gajdon GK, Lichtnegger M, Huber L. What a Parrot’s Mind Adds to Play: The Urge to Produce Novelty Fosters Tool Use Acquisition in Kea. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2014. [DOI: 10.4236/ojas.2014.42008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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68
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Chappell J, Cutting N, Apperly IA, Beck SR. The development of tool manufacture in humans: what helps young children make innovative tools? Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2013; 368:20120409. [PMID: 24101620 PMCID: PMC4027417 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2012.0409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
We know that even young children are proficient tool users, but until recently, little was known about how they make tools. Here, we will explore the concepts underlying tool making, and the kinds of information and putative cognitive abilities required for children to manufacture novel tools. We will review the evidence for novel tool manufacture from the comparative literature and present a growing body of data from children suggesting that innovation of the solution to a problem by making a tool is a much more challenging task than previously thought. Children's difficulty with these kinds of tasks does not seem to be explained by perseveration with unmodified tools, difficulty with switching to alternative strategies, task pragmatics or issues with permission. Rather, making novel tools (without having seen an example of the required tool within the context of the task) appears to be hard, because it is an example of an 'ill-structured problem'. In this type of ill-structured problem, the starting conditions and end goal are known, but the transformations and/or actions required to get from one to the other are not specified. We will discuss the implications of these findings for understanding the development of problem-solving in humans and other animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jackie Chappell
- School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
| | - Nicola Cutting
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
| | - Ian A. Apperly
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
| | - Sarah R. Beck
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
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69
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Haslam M. 'Captivity bias' in animal tool use and its implications for the evolution of hominin technology. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2013; 368:20120421. [PMID: 24101629 PMCID: PMC4027414 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2012.0421] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Animals in captive or laboratory settings may outperform wild animals of the same species in both frequency and diversity of tool use, a phenomenon here termed 'captivity bias'. Although speculative at this stage, a logical conclusion from this concept is that animals whose tool-use behaviour is observed solely under natural conditions may be judged cognitively or physically inferior than if they had also been tested or observed under controlled captive conditions. In turn, this situation creates a potential problem for studies of the behaviour of extinct members of the human family tree-the hominins-as hominin cognitive abilities are often judged on material evidence of tool-use behaviour left in the archaeological record. In this review, potential factors contributing to captivity bias in primates (including increased contact between individuals engaged in tool use, guidance or shaping of tool-use behaviour by other tool-users and increased free time and energy) are identified and assessed for their possible effects on the behaviour of the Late Pleistocene hominin Homo floresiensis. The captivity bias concept provides one way to uncouple hominin tool use from cognition, by considering hominins as subject to the same adaptive influences as other tool-using animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Haslam
- Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
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70
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Striedter GF. Bird brains and tool use: beyond instrumental conditioning. BRAIN, BEHAVIOR AND EVOLUTION 2013; 82:55-67. [PMID: 23979456 DOI: 10.1159/000352003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Few displays of complex cognition are as intriguing as nonhuman tool use. Long thought to be unique to humans, evidence for tool use and manufacture has now been gathered in chimpanzees, dolphins, and elephants. Outside of mammals, tool use is most common in birds, especially in corvids and parrots. The present paper reviews the evidence for avian tool use, both in the wild and in laboratory settings. It also places this behavioral evidence in the context of longstanding debates about the kinds of mental processes nonhumans can perform. Descartes argued that animals are unable to think because they are soulless machines, incapable of flexible behavior. Later, as human machines became more sophisticated and psychologists discovered classical and instrumental conditioning, skepticism about animal thinking decreased. However, behaviors that involve more than simple conditioning continued to elicit skepticism, especially among behaviorists. Nonetheless, as reviewed here, strong behavioral data now indicate that tool use in some birds cannot be explained as resulting entirely from instrumental conditioning. The neural substrates of tool use in birds remain unclear, but the available data point mainly to the caudolateral nidopallium, which shares both functional and structural features with the mammalian prefrontal cortex. As more data on the neural mechanisms of complex cognition in birds accrue, skepticism about those mental capacities should continue to wane.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georg F Striedter
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697-4550, USA.
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71
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Auersperg AMI, Kacelnik A, von Bayern AMP. Explorative learning and functional inferences on a five-step means-means-end problem in Goffin's cockatoos (Cacatuagoffini). PLoS One 2013; 8:e68979. [PMID: 23844247 PMCID: PMC3700958 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0068979] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2013] [Accepted: 06/03/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
To investigate cognitive operations underlying sequential problem solving, we confronted ten Goffin's cockatoos with a baited box locked by five different inter-locking devices. Subjects were either naïve or had watched a conspecific demonstration, and either faced all devices at once or incrementally. One naïve subject solved the problem without demonstration and with all locks present within the first five sessions (each consisting of one trial of up to 20 minutes), while five others did so after social demonstrations or incremental experience. Performance was aided by species-specific traits including neophilia, a haptic modality and persistence. Most birds showed a ratchet-like progress, rarely failing to solve a stage once they had done it once. In most transfer tests subjects reacted flexibly and sensitively to alterations of the locks' sequencing and functionality, as expected from the presence of predictive inferences about mechanical interactions between the locks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice M. I. Auersperg
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Max-Planck-Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
- * E-mail: (AA); (AK)
| | - Alex Kacelnik
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (AA); (AK)
| | - Auguste M. P. von Bayern
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Max-Planck-Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
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