Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T22:07:25.578Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

“Birdbrains” should not be ignored in studying the evolution of g

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 August 2017

Irene M. Pepperberg*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA [email protected]@wjh.harvard.edu

Abstract

The authors evaluate evidence for general intelligence (g) in nonhumans but lean heavily toward mammalian data. They mention, but do not discuss in detail, evidence for g in nonmammalian species, for which substantive material exists. I refer to a number of avian studies, particularly in corvids and parrots, which would add breadth to the material presented in the target article.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Auersperg, A. M. I., Laumer, I. B. & Bugnyar, T. (2013) Goffin cockatoos wait for qualitative and quantitative gains but prefer “better” to “more”. The Royal Society: Biology Letters 9 (article 20121092).Google ScholarPubMed
Baptista, L. F. (1981) Interspecific song mimesis by a Lincoln sparrow. Wilson Bulletin 93:265–67.Google Scholar
Bugnyar, T. & Heinrich, B. (2006) Pilfering ravens, Corvus corax, adjust their behaviour to social context and identity of competitors. Animal Cognition 9:369–76.Google Scholar
Chiarati, E., Canestrari, D., Vera, R., Marcos, J. M. & Baglione, V. (2010) Linear and stable dominance hierarchies in cooperative carrion crows. Ethology 116:346–56.Google Scholar
Heyse, L. (2012) Affiliation affects social learning in keas (Nestor notabilis) and ravens (Corvus corax). (Unpublished master thesis). University of Vienna, Department of Cognitive Biology, Vienna, Austria.Google Scholar
Hillemann, F., Bugnyar, T., Kotrschal, K. & Wascher, C. A. F. (2014) Waiting for better, not for more: Corvids respond to quality in two delay maintenance tasks. Animal Behaviour 90:110.Google Scholar
Humphrey, N. K. (1976) The social function of intellect. In: Growing points in ethology, ed. Bateson, P. P. G. & Hinde, R. A., pp. 303–17. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Iwaniuk, A. N., Lefebvre, L. & Wylie, D. R. (2009) The comparative approach and brain-behavior relationships: A tool for understanding tool use. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology 63:50159.Google Scholar
Izawa, E. & Watanabe, S. (2008) Formation of linear dominance relationship in captive jungle crows (Corvus macrorhynchos): Implications for individual recognition. Behavioural Processes 78:4452.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jarvis, E. D., Güntürkün, O., Bruce, L., Csillag, A., Karten, H., Kuenzel, W., Medina, L., Paxinos, G., Perkel, D., Shimizu, T., Striedter, G., Wild, J. M., Ball, G. F., Dugas-Ford, J., Durand, S. E., Hough, G. E., Husband, S., Kubikova, L., Lee, D. W., Mello, C. V., Powers, A., Siang, C., Smulders, T. V., Wada, K., White, S. A., Yamamoto, K., Yu, J., Reiner, A. & Butler, A. B. (2005) Avian brains and a new understanding of vertebrate evolution. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 6:151–59.Google Scholar
Jolly, A. (1966) Lemur social behaviour and primate intelligence. Science 153(3735):501506.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koepke, A. E., Gray, S. L. & Pepperberg, I. M. (2015) Delayed gratification: A Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus) will wait for a better reward. Journal of Comparative Psychology 129:339–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, R., Schiestl, M., Whiten, A., Schwab, C. & Bugnyar, T. (2014) Tolerance and social facilitation in the foraging behaviour of free-ranging crows (Corvus corone corone; C. c. cornix). Ethology 120:1248–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olkowicz, S., Kocourek, M., Lučan, R. K., Porteš, M., Fitch, W. T., Herculano-Houzel, S. & Němec, P. (2016) Birds have primate-like numbers of neurons in the forebrain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 113(26):7255–60. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1517131113.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paz-y-Miño, G., Bond, A. B. & Kamil, A. C. (2004) Pinyon jays use transitive inference to predict social dominance. Nature 430:778–81.Google Scholar
Pepperberg, I. M. (1981) Functional vocalizations by an African Grey parrot. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie 55:139–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pepperberg, I. M. (1983) Cognition in the African Grey parrot: Preliminary evidence for auditory/vocal comprehension of the class concept. Animal Learning & Behavior 11:179–85.Google Scholar
Pepperberg, I. M. (1987) Acquisition of the same/different concept by an African Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus): Learning with respect to color, shape, and material. Animal Learning & Behavior 15:423–32.Google Scholar
Pepperberg, I. M. (1988) Comprehension of “absence” by an African Grey parrot: Learning with respect to questions of same/different. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 50:553–64.Google Scholar
Pepperberg, I. M. (1999) The Alex studies. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Pepperberg, I. M. (2006) Ordinality and inferential abilities of a Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus). Journal of Comparative Psychology 120:205–16.Google Scholar
Pepperberg, I. M. & Brezinsky, M. V. (1991) Acquisition of a relative class concept by an African Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus): Discriminations based on relative size. Journal of Comparative Psychology 105:286–94.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pepperberg, I. M. & Carey, S. (2012) Grey parrot number acquisition: The inference of cardinal value from ordinal position on the numeral list. Cognition 125:219–32.Google Scholar
Pepperberg, I. M. & Gordon, J. D. (2005) Number comprehension by a Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus), including a zero-like concept. Journal of Comparative Psychology 119:197209.Google Scholar
Pepperberg, I. M., Koepke, A., Livingston, P., Girard, M. & Hartsfield, L. A. (2013) Reasoning by inference: Further studies on exclusion in Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus). Journal of Comparative Psychology 127:272–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raby, C. R., Alexis, D. M., Dickinson, A. & Clayton, N. S. (2007) Planning for the future by western scrub-jays. Nature 445:919–21.Google Scholar
Schloegl, C. (2011) What you see is what you get – Reloaded: Can jackdaws (Corvus monedula) find hidden food through exclusion? Journal of Comparative Psychology 125:162–74.Google Scholar
Schloegl, C., Dierks, A., Gajdon, G. K., Huber, L., Kotrschal, K. & Bugnyar, T. (2009) What you see is what you get? Exclusion performances in ravens and keas. PLoS One 4:e6368.Google Scholar
Smirnova, A. A. (2013) Symbolic representation of the numerosities 1-8 by hooded crows (Corvus cornix L.). Paper presented at the International Ethological Congress, Newcastle, UK, August 48.Google Scholar
Szabo, B., Bugnyar, T. & Auersperg, A. M. I. (2016) Within-group relationships and lack of social enhancement during object manipulation in captive Goffin's cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana). Learning & Behavior 45(1):719. doi: 10.3758/s13420-016-0235-0.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ujfalussy, D., Miklosi, A., Bugnyar, T. & Kotrschal, K. (2014) Role of mental representations in quantity judgements by jackdaws (Corvus monedula). Journal of Comparative Psychology 128:1120.Google Scholar
van Horik, J. O. & Emery, N. J. (2016) Transfer of physical understanding in a non-tool-using parrot. Animal Cognition 19:11951203.Google Scholar