Do new caledonian crows solve physical problems through causal reasoning?

ABSTRACT: The extent to which animals other than humans can reason about physical problems is contentious. The benchmark test for this ability has been the trap-tube task. We presented New Caledonian crows with a series of two-trap versions of this problem. Three out of six crows solved the initial trap-tube. These crows continued to avoid the trap when the arbitrary features that had previously been associated with successful performances were removed. However, they did not avoid the trap when a hole and a functional trap were in the tube. In contrast to a recent primate study, the three crows then solved a causally equivalent but visually distinct problem--the trap-table task. The performance of the three crows across the four transfers made explanations based on chance, associative learning, visu

SUBMITTER: Taylor AH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2674354 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature