Testing two competing hypotheses for Eurasian jays’ caching for the future

Abstract Previous research reported that corvids preferentially cache food in a location where no food will be available or cache more of a specific food in a location where this food will not be available. Here, we consider possible explanations for these prospective caching behaviours and directly...

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Autores principales:	Piero Amodio, Johanni Brea, Benjamin G. Farrar, Ljerka Ostojić, Nicola S. Clayton
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/256569d586624eae9d97ef9fcc90c8f9
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:256569d586624eae9d97ef9fcc90c8f92021-12-02T15:23:02ZTesting two competing hypotheses for Eurasian jays’ caching for the future10.1038/s41598-020-80515-72045-2322https://doaj.org/article/256569d586624eae9d97ef9fcc90c8f92021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-80515-7https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Previous research reported that corvids preferentially cache food in a location where no food will be available or cache more of a specific food in a location where this food will not be available. Here, we consider possible explanations for these prospective caching behaviours and directly compare two competing hypotheses. The Compensatory Caching Hypothesis suggests that birds learn to cache more of a particular food in places where that food was less frequently available in the past. In contrast, the Future Planning Hypothesis suggests that birds recall the ‘what–when–where’ features of specific past events to predict the future availability of food. We designed a protocol in which the two hypotheses predict different caching patterns across different caching locations such that the two explanations can be disambiguated. We formalised the hypotheses in a Bayesian model comparison and tested this protocol in two experiments with one of the previously tested species, namely Eurasian jays. Consistently across the two experiments, the observed caching pattern did not support either hypothesis; rather it was best explained by a uniform distribution of caches over the different caching locations. Future research is needed to gain more insight into the cognitive mechanism underpinning corvids’ caching for the future.Piero AmodioJohanni BreaBenjamin G. FarrarLjerka OstojićNicola S. ClaytonNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-15 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Piero Amodio Johanni Brea Benjamin G. Farrar Ljerka Ostojić Nicola S. Clayton Testing two competing hypotheses for Eurasian jays’ caching for the future
description	Abstract Previous research reported that corvids preferentially cache food in a location where no food will be available or cache more of a specific food in a location where this food will not be available. Here, we consider possible explanations for these prospective caching behaviours and directly compare two competing hypotheses. The Compensatory Caching Hypothesis suggests that birds learn to cache more of a particular food in places where that food was less frequently available in the past. In contrast, the Future Planning Hypothesis suggests that birds recall the ‘what–when–where’ features of specific past events to predict the future availability of food. We designed a protocol in which the two hypotheses predict different caching patterns across different caching locations such that the two explanations can be disambiguated. We formalised the hypotheses in a Bayesian model comparison and tested this protocol in two experiments with one of the previously tested species, namely Eurasian jays. Consistently across the two experiments, the observed caching pattern did not support either hypothesis; rather it was best explained by a uniform distribution of caches over the different caching locations. Future research is needed to gain more insight into the cognitive mechanism underpinning corvids’ caching for the future.
format	article
author	Piero Amodio Johanni Brea Benjamin G. Farrar Ljerka Ostojić Nicola S. Clayton
author_facet	Piero Amodio Johanni Brea Benjamin G. Farrar Ljerka Ostojić Nicola S. Clayton
author_sort	Piero Amodio
title	Testing two competing hypotheses for Eurasian jays’ caching for the future
title_short	Testing two competing hypotheses for Eurasian jays’ caching for the future
title_full	Testing two competing hypotheses for Eurasian jays’ caching for the future
title_fullStr	Testing two competing hypotheses for Eurasian jays’ caching for the future
title_full_unstemmed	Testing two competing hypotheses for Eurasian jays’ caching for the future
title_sort	testing two competing hypotheses for eurasian jays’ caching for the future
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/256569d586624eae9d97ef9fcc90c8f9
work_keys_str_mv	AT pieroamodio testingtwocompetinghypothesesforeurasianjayscachingforthefuture AT johannibrea testingtwocompetinghypothesesforeurasianjayscachingforthefuture AT benjamingfarrar testingtwocompetinghypothesesforeurasianjayscachingforthefuture AT ljerkaostojic testingtwocompetinghypothesesforeurasianjayscachingforthefuture AT nicolasclayton testingtwocompetinghypothesesforeurasianjayscachingforthefuture
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Testing two competing hypotheses for Eurasian jays’ caching for the future

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