1
|
Harrington KJ, Folkertsma R, Auersperg AMI, Biondi L, Lambert ML. Innovative problem solving by wild falcons. Curr Biol 2024; 34:190-195.e3. [PMID: 37989310 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Revised: 10/06/2023] [Accepted: 10/26/2023] [Indexed: 11/23/2023]
Abstract
Innovation (i.e., a new solution to a familiar problem, or applying an existing behavior to a novel problem1,2) plays a fundamental role in species' ecology and evolution. It can be a useful measure for cross-group comparisons of behavioral and cognitive flexibility and a proxy for general intelligence.3,4,5 Among birds, experimental studies of innovation (and cognition more generally) are largely from captive corvids and parrots,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 though we lack serious models for avian technical intelligence outside these taxa. Striated caracaras (Phalcoboenus australis) are Falconiformes, sister clade to parrots and passerines,13,14,15 and those endemic to the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) show curiosity and neophilia similar to notoriously neophilic kea parrots16,17 and face similar socio-ecological pressures to corvids and parrots.18,19 We tested wild striated caracaras as a new avian model for technical cognition and innovation using a field-applicable 8-task comparative paradigm (adapted from Rössler et al.20 and Auersperg et al.21). The setup allowed us to assess behavior, rate, and flexibility of problem solving over repeated exposure in a natural setting. Like other generalist species with low neophobia,21,22 we predicted caracaras to demonstrate a haptic approach to solving tasks, flexibly switching to new, unsolved problems and improving their performance over time. Striated caracaras performed comparably to tool-using parrots,20 nearly reaching ceiling levels of innovation in few trials, repeatedly and flexibly solving tasks, and rapidly learning. We attribute our findings to the birds' ecology, including geographic restriction, resource unpredictability, and opportunistic generalism,23,24,25 and encourage future work investigating their cognitive abilities in the wild. VIDEO ABSTRACT.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Katie J Harrington
- Comparative Cognition Unit, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Remco Folkertsma
- Comparative Cognition Unit, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria
| | - Alice M I Auersperg
- Comparative Cognition Unit, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria
| | - Laura Biondi
- Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), UNMdP - CONICET, Juan B. Justo 2550, Mar del Plata B7602GSD, Argentina
| | - Megan L Lambert
- Comparative Cognition Unit, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Suwandschieff E, Mundry R, Kull K, Kreuzer L, Schwing R. 'Do I know you?' Categorizing individuals on the basis of familiarity in kea ( Nestor notabilis). ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:230228. [PMID: 37351495 PMCID: PMC10282571 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.230228] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023]
Abstract
Categorizing individuals on the basis of familiarity is an adaptive way of dealing with the complexity of the social environment. It requires the use of conceptual familiarity and is considered higher order learning. Although, it is common among many species, ecological need might require and facilitate individual differentiation among heterospecifics. This may be true for laboratory populations just as much as for domesticated species and those that live in urban contexts. However, with the exception of a few studies, populations of laboratory animals have generally been given less attention. The study at hand, therefore, addressed the question whether a laboratory population of kea parrots (Nestor notabilis) were able to apply the concept of familiarity to differentiate between human faces in a two-choice discrimination task on the touchscreen. The results illustrated that the laboratory population of kea were indeed able to differentiate between familiar and unfamiliar human faces in a two-choice discrimination task. The results provide novel empirical evidence on abstract categorization capacities in parrots while at the same time providing further evidence of representational insight in kea.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Elisabeth Suwandschieff
- Research Station Haidlhof, Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Roger Mundry
- Research Station Haidlhof, Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
- Platform Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
- Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
- Department for Primate Cognition, Georg-August-University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Leibniz-ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Kristina Kull
- Research Station Haidlhof, Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
- Division of Livestock Sciences, Department of Sustainable Agricultural Systems, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Lena Kreuzer
- Research Station Haidlhof, Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Raoul Schwing
- Research Station Haidlhof, Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Kawashima S, Ikeda Y. Evaluation of Visual and Tactile Perception by Plain-Body Octopus ( Callistoctopus aspilosomatis) of Prey-Like Objects. Zoolog Sci 2021; 38:495-505. [PMID: 34854281 DOI: 10.2108/zs210037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2021] [Accepted: 09/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
We investigated the characteristic features of perception in octopuses by examining multisensory information from an object simulating prey, which provided different visual and tactile stimuli. In experiments, we presented plain-body octopus with four kinds of models, namely, the Lifelike crab, the Embedded crab, the Translucent crab, and the Black cuboid. These models contain different amounts of visual and tactile information that a crab originally contains: the Lifelike crab resembles a crab both visually and tactilely, the Embedded crab resembles a crab visually but provides different tactile information, the Translucent crab provides tactile information of a crab but contains less visual information, and the Black cuboid lacks both visual and tactile information of a crab. Among these four models, octopuses contacted most with the Lifelike crab, which was similar to their behavior with a crab. Indeed, octopuses were fastest to contact the Lifelike crab and had the longest duration of contacting it among the four models. Octopuses contacted the Embedded crab more than the Translucent crab, both of which had contrasting visuo-tactile information compared to that of a crab. Quickness of octopuses to contact and duration of contact with the Embedded crab were more similar to those with the Lifelike crab than to those with the Translucent crab. Furthermore, octopuses contacted the Black cuboid least among the models. These results suggest that octopuses compositely detect both visual and tactile information in order to perceive an object. Furthermore, octopuses possess the potential priority either for visual or tactile information, by which they process the target object.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sumire Kawashima
- Graduate School of Engineering and Science, University of the Ryukyus, Senbaru, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan
| | - Yuzuru Ikeda
- Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukyus, Senbaru, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan,
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Kawashima S, Yasumuro H, Ikeda Y. Plain-Body Octopus's ( Callistoctopus aspilosomatis) Learning about Objects via Both Visual and Tactile Sensory Inputs: A Pilot Study. Zoolog Sci 2021; 38:383-396. [PMID: 34664913 DOI: 10.2108/zs210034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2021] [Accepted: 05/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Although various recognizing abilities have been revealed for octopuses, they predominantly deal with only a few species. Therefore, cognition diversity among other octopus species that have been overlooked needs to be investigated. We investigated whether plain-body octopus can learn a symbolic stimulus, for the reason that this octopus is abundant around Okinawa Island with a complex coral community landscape. Attention was paid to whether an octopus can learn a stimulus based solely on visual information without previous experience of learning it tactilely as well as visually. Furthermore, we examined whether different sensory inputs affect learning in octopuses. First, we tested whether octopuses can be conditioned to three different stimuli (object, picture, and video of a white cross). Octopuses that were presented an object or a picture could learn to touch them. However, octopuses that were presented a video could not learn to touch the stimulus. Second, we showed a video to octopuses that had already learned about an object or a picture to investigate whether the octopuses, having experienced a target using visual and tactile senses, can recognize a video of the target based solely on visual information. Octopuses could learn to touch the video. When a conditioned stimulus and a novel stimulus were simultaneously presented on a computer screen, an octopus that had learned an object more often selected the conditioned stimulus when compared with an octopus that had experienced only a picture. These findings suggest that octopuses use multisensory information to recognize a specific object.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sumire Kawashima
- Graduate School of Engineering and Science, University of the Ryukyus, Senbaru, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan
| | - Haruhiko Yasumuro
- Graduate School of Engineering and Science, University of the Ryukyus, Senbaru, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan
| | - Yuzuru Ikeda
- Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukyus, Senbaru, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan,
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Martini D, Dussex N, Robertson BC, Gemmell NJ, Knapp M. Evolution of the "world's only alpine parrot": Genomic adaptation or phenotypic plasticity, behaviour and ecology? Mol Ecol 2021; 30:6370-6386. [PMID: 33973288 DOI: 10.1111/mec.15978] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2020] [Revised: 04/19/2021] [Accepted: 04/28/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Climate warming, in particular in island environments, where opportunities for species to disperse are limited, may become a serious threat to cold adapted alpine species. In order to understand how alpine species may respond to a warming world, we need to understand the drivers that have shaped their habitat specialisation and the evolutionary adaptations that allow them to utilize alpine habitats. The endemic, endangered New Zealand kea (Nestor notabilis) is considered the only alpine parrot in the world. As a species commonly found in the alpine zone it may be highly susceptible to climate warming. But is it a true alpine specialist? Is its evolution driven by adaptation to the alpine zone, or is the kea an open habitat generalist that simply uses the alpine zone to, for example, avoid lower lying anthropogenic landscapes? We use whole genome data of the kea and its close, forest adapted sister species, the kākā (Nestor meridionalis) to reconstruct the evolutionary history of both species and identify the functional genomic differences that underlie their habitat specialisations. Our analyses do not identify major functional genomic differences between kea and kākā in pathways associated with high-altitude. Rather, we found evidence that selective pressures on adaptations commonly found in alpine species are present in both Nestor species, suggesting that selection for alpine adaptations has not driven their divergence. Strongly divergent demographic responses to past climate warming between the species nevertheless highlight potential future threats to kea survival in a warming world.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Denise Martini
- Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Nicolas Dussex
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Neil J Gemmell
- Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Michael Knapp
- Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Schubiger MN, Fichtel C, Burkart JM. Validity of Cognitive Tests for Non-human Animals: Pitfalls and Prospects. Front Psychol 2020; 11:1835. [PMID: 32982822 PMCID: PMC7488350 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01835] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2020] [Accepted: 07/03/2020] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Comparative psychology assesses cognitive abilities and capacities of non-human animals and humans. Based on performance differences and similarities in various species in cognitive tests, it is inferred how their minds work and reconstructed how cognition might have evolved. Critically, such species comparisons are only valid and meaningful if the tasks truly capture individual and inter-specific variation in cognitive abilities rather than contextual variables that might affect task performance. Unlike in human test psychology, however, cognitive tasks for non-human primates (and most other animals) have been rarely evaluated regarding their measurement validity. We review recent studies that address how non-cognitive factors affect performance in a set of commonly used cognitive tasks, and if cognitive tests truly measure individual variation in cognitive abilities. We find that individual differences in emotional and motivational factors primarily affect performance via attention. Hence, it is crucial to systematically control for attention during cognitive tasks to obtain valid and reliable results. Aspects of test design, however, can also have a substantial effect on cognitive performance. We conclude that non-cognitive factors are a minor source of measurement error if acknowledged and properly controlled for. It is essential, however, to validate and eventually re-design several primate cognition tasks in order to ascertain that they capture the cognitive abilities they were designed to measure. This will provide a more solid base for future cognitive comparisons within primates but also across a wider range of non-human animal species.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Michèle N. Schubiger
- Evolutionary Cognition Group, Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- World Ape Fund, London, United Kingdom
| | - Claudia Fichtel
- Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology Unit, German Primate Center, Göttingen, Germany
- Leibniz ScienceCampus “Primate Cognition”, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Judith M. Burkart
- Evolutionary Cognition Group, Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Carducci P, Squillace V, Manzi G, Truppa V. Touch improves visual discrimination of object features in capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.). Behav Processes 2020; 172:104044. [PMID: 31954810 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2020.104044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2019] [Revised: 01/03/2020] [Accepted: 01/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Primates perceive many object features through vision and touch. To date, little is known on how the synergy of these two sensory modalities contributes to enhance object recognition. Here, we investigated in capuchin monkeys (N = 12) whether manipulating objects and retaining tactile information enhanced visual recognition of geometrical object properties on different scales. Capuchins were trained to visually select the rewarded one of two objects differing in size, shape (larger-scale) or surface structure (smaller-scale). Objects were explored in two experimental conditions: the Sight condition prevented capuchins from touching the chosen object; the Sight and Touch condition allowed them to touch the selected object. Our results indicated that tactile information increased the capuchins' learning speed for visual discrimination of object features. Moreover, the capuchins' learning speed was higher in both size and shape discrimination compared to surface discrimination regardless of the availability of tactile input. Overall, our data demonstrated that the acquisition of tactile information about object features was advantageous for the capuchins and allowed them to achieve high levels of visual accuracy faster. This suggests that information from touch potentiated object recognition in the visual modality.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Paola Carducci
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council (CNR), Via Ulisse Aldrovandi 16/B, 00197, Rome, Italy; Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Environmental Biology, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy.
| | - Valerio Squillace
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council (CNR), Via Ulisse Aldrovandi 16/B, 00197, Rome, Italy
| | - Giorgio Manzi
- Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Environmental Biology, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Valentina Truppa
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council (CNR), Via Ulisse Aldrovandi 16/B, 00197, Rome, Italy.
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Schubiger MN, Kissling A, Burkart JM. Does opportunistic testing bias cognitive performance in primates? Learning from drop-outs. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0213727. [PMID: 30893340 PMCID: PMC6426242 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213727] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2018] [Accepted: 02/27/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Dropouts are a common issue in cognitive tests with non-human primates. One main reason for dropouts is that researchers often face a trade-off between obtaining a sufficiently large sample size and logistic restrictions, such as limited access to testing facilities. The commonly-used opportunistic testing approach deals with this trade-off by only testing those individuals who readily participate and complete the cognitive tasks within a given time frame. All other individuals are excluded from further testing and data analysis. However, it is unknown if this approach merely excludes subjects who are not consistently motivated to participate, or if these dropouts systematically differ in cognitive ability. If the latter holds, the selection bias resulting from opportunistic testing would systematically affect performance scores and thus comparisons between individuals and species. We assessed the potential effects of opportunistic testing on cognitive performance in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) and squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) with a test battery consisting of six cognitive tests: two inhibition tasks (Detour Reaching and A-not-B), one cognitive flexibility task (Reversal Learning), one quantity discrimination task, and two memory tasks. Importantly, we used a full testing approach in which subjects were given as much time as they required to complete each task. For each task, we then compared the performance of subjects who completed the task within the expected number of testing days with those subjects who needed more testing time. We found that the two groups did not differ in task performance, and therefore opportunistic testing would have been justified without risking biased results. If our findings generalise to other species, maximising sample sizes by only testing consistently motivated subjects will be a valid alternative whenever full testing is not feasible.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Michèle N. Schubiger
- Department of Anthropology, Evolutionary Cognition Group, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- School of Social and Health Sciences, Division of Psychology, Abertay University, Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: ,
| | - Alexandra Kissling
- Department of Anthropology, Evolutionary Cognition Group, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Judith M. Burkart
- Department of Anthropology, Evolutionary Cognition Group, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Truppa V, Carducci P, Sabbatini G. Object grasping and manipulation in capuchin monkeys (genera Cebus and Sapajus). Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2018. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/bly131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Valentina Truppa
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council (CNR), Via Ulisse Aldrovandi, Rome, Italy
| | - Paola Carducci
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council (CNR), Via Ulisse Aldrovandi, Rome, Italy
- Environmental and Evolutionary Biology PhD Program, Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro, Rome, Italy
| | - Gloria Sabbatini
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council (CNR), Via Ulisse Aldrovandi, Rome, Italy
| |
Collapse
|