clever corvids Flashcards
corvidae
crow family
tool using crows
-‘phsyical cognition’
-tool use is the use of external object as a functional extension of mouth or break, hand or claw, in the attainment of an immediate goal
-behaviour we once assumed was specific to humans along with language is not unique to humans- chimpanzees also use this
name types of animals which also use tools
-apes, vertebrates, marine and terrestrial mammals, monkeys
tool use and intelligence
-tool use isn’t an indicator of intelligence
-but can reveal the physical cognition
-relies on visible forms of problem solving
-folk physics
chimpanzees
-only other animal capable of tool use
-our closest relative
-have diversity of tools, tool sets, manufacture of tools and tool culture
New Caledonian crows
-live in tropical dense forest, where many species which live there, only live there
-wide use and manufacture of tools, lots of diversity pf tool types
captive study
-keeping birds in captivity can have positive and negative effects
-+ve: controlled study of behaviour
-ve: ecological validity may be compromised, low sample size
what does advanced cognition rely on
-planning
-flexibility
-ability to learn
-insight (problem solving)
-development
how does tool use develop
-you need nest building and mating, then egg-laying and viable eggs, then successful hatching and then feeding and growing
jo wimpenny and her 4 chicks
-4 chicks 2 in 2 different captivities one being regular demonstration and the other being no demonstration (taught or not taught how to use the tools)
-untutored birds didn’t use a good tool to use therefore tuition is important in defining this behaviour
do crows plan their behaviour
-we know they use tools to retrieve their food but could they use the tool to retrieve another tool to retrieve their food- includes primary, secondary any and log, and tertiary conditions
hook and non- hook to retrieve food
-the non-hook was moulded into a hook to retrieve the food
-this wasn’t innate, not observational learning, not associative learning, and most likely insightful learning
-imperfect performance: experiment was repeated, she always managed to mould the straight wire but not always perfectly
understanding he force apparatus
-two groups: stone nudgers and platform pushers
-stone nudger were associative learning and platform pushers were associative learning inadequate
-pushers solved the experiment soon their first try as crows knew about the force
food caching in western scrub jays
-social cognition : knowledge of relationships, dominance hierarchy and mental states of individuals
-animals remember details of cache and protect cache from thieves
-semantic memory= fact learning
-episodic memory= unique recollection, conscious
-experiment to see if scrub jays had episodic like memory: used nuts and worms (birds prefer worms)
-1 st cache had nuts left for 120hours then 2nd cache had worms for 4 hours
-other way round for the other food source
-results showed that in the birds preferred the worms after 4 hours but not 124hours, they preferred nuts at 124hours (look at slides)
can animals plan for the future
animals can only satisfy their current emotional state
birds can plan for breakfast
-phase 1, bird in open enclosure, breakfast given on one side, and none on the other, randomly shuts L and R enclosures so birds learn where the breakfast is provided
-phase 2, containers provided in L and R side, bird moves food into the side where no breakfast was given last phase
