Function and flexibility of object exploration in kea and new caledonian crows
(2017) In Royal Society Open Science 4(9).- 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 behavior 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... (More)
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 behavior 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 behavior to explicitly seek this information.
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- author
- Lambert, Megan L. LU ; Schiestl, Martina ; Schwing, Raoul ; Taylor, Alex H. ; Gajdon, Gyula K. ; Slocombe, Katie E. and Seed, Amanda M.
- organization
- publishing date
- 2017-09-27
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Cognition, Corvid, Object play, Object properties, Parrot, Tool use
- in
- Royal Society Open Science
- volume
- 4
- issue
- 9
- article number
- 170652
- publisher
- Royal Society Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:28989768
- wos:000412168900041
- scopus:85030263987
- ISSN
- 2054-5703
- DOI
- 10.1098/rsos.170652
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- aa6541f4-43c9-4024-bd62-d84dedbb6bbc
- date added to LUP
- 2017-11-28 12:44:35
- date last changed
- 2024-02-13 12:01:53
@article{aa6541f4-43c9-4024-bd62-d84dedbb6bbc,
abstract = {{<p>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 behavior 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 behavior to explicitly seek this information.</p>}},
author = {{Lambert, Megan L. and Schiestl, Martina and Schwing, Raoul and Taylor, Alex H. and Gajdon, Gyula K. and Slocombe, Katie E. and Seed, Amanda M.}},
issn = {{2054-5703}},
keywords = {{Cognition; Corvid; Object play; Object properties; Parrot; Tool use}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{09}},
number = {{9}},
publisher = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
series = {{Royal Society Open Science}},
title = {{Function and flexibility of object exploration in kea and new caledonian crows}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170652}},
doi = {{10.1098/rsos.170652}},
volume = {{4}},
year = {{2017}},
}