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Are parrots poor at motor self‐regulation or is the cylinder task poor at measuring it?

Kabadayi, Can LU ; Krasheninnikova, Anastasia ; O'neill, Laurie ; van de Weijer, Joost LU orcid ; Osvath, Mathias LU and von Bayern, Auguste (2017) In Animal Cognition 20(6). p.1137-1146
Abstract
The ability to inhibit unproductive motor responses triggered by salient stimuli is a fundamental inhibitory skill. Such motor self-regulation is thought to underlie more complex cognitive mechanisms, like self- control. Recently, a large-scale study, comparing 36 species, found that absolute brain size best predicted competence in motor inhibition, with great apes as the best performers. This was challenged when three Corvus species (corvids) were found to parallel great apes despite having much smaller absolute brain sizes. However, new analyses suggest that it is the number of pallial neurons, and not absolute brain size per se, that correlates with levels of motor inhibition. Both studies used the cylinder task, a detour-reaching test... (More)
The ability to inhibit unproductive motor responses triggered by salient stimuli is a fundamental inhibitory skill. Such motor self-regulation is thought to underlie more complex cognitive mechanisms, like self- control. Recently, a large-scale study, comparing 36 species, found that absolute brain size best predicted competence in motor inhibition, with great apes as the best performers. This was challenged when three Corvus species (corvids) were found to parallel great apes despite having much smaller absolute brain sizes. However, new analyses suggest that it is the number of pallial neurons, and not absolute brain size per se, that correlates with levels of motor inhibition. Both studies used the cylinder task, a detour-reaching test where food is presented behind a transparent barrier. We tested four species from the order Psittaciformes (parrots) on this task. Like corvids, many parrots have relatively large brains, high numbers of pallial neurons, and solve challenging cogni- tive tasks. Nonetheless, parrots performed markedly worse than the Corvus species in the cylinder task and exhibited strong learning e ects in performance and response times. Our results suggest either that parrots are poor at control- ling their motor impulses, and hence that pallial neuronal numbers do not always correlate with such skills, or that the widely used cylinder task may not be a good measure of motor inhibition. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Inhibition (Psychology), Parrots
in
Animal Cognition
volume
20
issue
6
pages
1137 - 1146
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • pmid:28929247
  • scopus:85029599404
  • wos:000412948000012
ISSN
1435-9456
DOI
10.1007/s10071-017-1131-5
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a7ae636a-e618-4535-90ab-e831ba3a8cd8
date added to LUP
2017-09-27 16:50:01
date last changed
2022-04-17 07:58:09
@article{a7ae636a-e618-4535-90ab-e831ba3a8cd8,
  abstract     = {{The ability to inhibit unproductive motor responses triggered by salient stimuli is a fundamental inhibitory skill. Such motor self-regulation is thought to underlie more complex cognitive mechanisms, like self- control. Recently, a large-scale study, comparing 36 species, found that absolute brain size best predicted competence in motor inhibition, with great apes as the best performers. This was challenged when three Corvus species (corvids) were found to parallel great apes despite having much smaller absolute brain sizes. However, new analyses suggest that it is the number of pallial neurons, and not absolute brain size per se, that correlates with levels of motor inhibition. Both studies used the cylinder task, a detour-reaching test where food is presented behind a transparent barrier. We tested four species from the order Psittaciformes (parrots) on this task. Like corvids, many parrots have relatively large brains, high numbers of pallial neurons, and solve challenging cogni- tive tasks. Nonetheless, parrots performed markedly worse than the Corvus species in the cylinder task and exhibited strong learning e ects in performance and response times. Our results suggest either that parrots are poor at control- ling their motor impulses, and hence that pallial neuronal numbers do not always correlate with such skills, or that the widely used cylinder task may not be a good measure of motor inhibition.}},
  author       = {{Kabadayi, Can and Krasheninnikova, Anastasia and O'neill, Laurie and van de Weijer, Joost and Osvath, Mathias and von Bayern, Auguste}},
  issn         = {{1435-9456}},
  keywords     = {{Inhibition (Psychology); Parrots}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{6}},
  pages        = {{1137--1146}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Animal Cognition}},
  title        = {{Are parrots poor at motor self‐regulation or is the cylinder task poor at measuring it?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10071-017-1131-5}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10071-017-1131-5}},
  volume       = {{20}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}