Ravens parallel great apes in physical and social cognitive skills

Abstract Human children show unique cognitive skills for dealing with the social world but their cognitive performance is paralleled by great apes in many tasks dealing with the physical world. Recent studies suggested that members of a songbird family—corvids—also evolved complex cognitive skills b...

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Autores principales:	Simone Pika, Miriam Jennifer Sima, Christian R. Blum, Esther Herrmann, Roger Mundry
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2020
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/ebfc6d156bd64461abb40b6c392f14c2
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:ebfc6d156bd64461abb40b6c392f14c22021-12-02T15:11:50ZRavens parallel great apes in physical and social cognitive skills10.1038/s41598-020-77060-82045-2322https://doaj.org/article/ebfc6d156bd64461abb40b6c392f14c22020-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-77060-8https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Human children show unique cognitive skills for dealing with the social world but their cognitive performance is paralleled by great apes in many tasks dealing with the physical world. Recent studies suggested that members of a songbird family—corvids—also evolved complex cognitive skills but a detailed understanding of the full scope of their cognition was, until now, not existent. Furthermore, relatively little is known about their cognitive development. Here, we conducted the first systematic, quantitative large-scale assessment of physical and social cognitive performance of common ravens with a special focus on development. To do so, we fine-tuned one of the most comprehensive experimental test-batteries, the Primate Cognition Test Battery (PCTB), to raven features enabling also a direct, quantitative comparison with the cognitive performance of two great ape species. Full-blown cognitive skills were already present at the age of four months with subadult ravens’ cognitive performance appearing very similar to that of adult apes in tasks of physical (quantities, and causality) and social cognition (social learning, communication, and theory of mind). These unprecedented findings strengthen recent assessments of ravens’ general intelligence, and aid to the growing evidence that the lack of a specific cortical architecture does not hinder advanced cognitive skills. Difficulties in certain cognitive scales further emphasize the quest to develop comparative test batteries that tap into true species rather than human specific cognitive skills, and suggest that socialization of test individuals may play a crucial role. We conclude to pay more attention to the impact of personality on cognitive output, and a currently neglected topic in Animal Cognition—the linkage between ontogeny and cognitive performance.Simone PikaMiriam Jennifer SimaChristian R. BlumEsther HerrmannRoger MundryNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 1-19 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Simone Pika Miriam Jennifer Sima Christian R. Blum Esther Herrmann Roger Mundry Ravens parallel great apes in physical and social cognitive skills
description	Abstract Human children show unique cognitive skills for dealing with the social world but their cognitive performance is paralleled by great apes in many tasks dealing with the physical world. Recent studies suggested that members of a songbird family—corvids—also evolved complex cognitive skills but a detailed understanding of the full scope of their cognition was, until now, not existent. Furthermore, relatively little is known about their cognitive development. Here, we conducted the first systematic, quantitative large-scale assessment of physical and social cognitive performance of common ravens with a special focus on development. To do so, we fine-tuned one of the most comprehensive experimental test-batteries, the Primate Cognition Test Battery (PCTB), to raven features enabling also a direct, quantitative comparison with the cognitive performance of two great ape species. Full-blown cognitive skills were already present at the age of four months with subadult ravens’ cognitive performance appearing very similar to that of adult apes in tasks of physical (quantities, and causality) and social cognition (social learning, communication, and theory of mind). These unprecedented findings strengthen recent assessments of ravens’ general intelligence, and aid to the growing evidence that the lack of a specific cortical architecture does not hinder advanced cognitive skills. Difficulties in certain cognitive scales further emphasize the quest to develop comparative test batteries that tap into true species rather than human specific cognitive skills, and suggest that socialization of test individuals may play a crucial role. We conclude to pay more attention to the impact of personality on cognitive output, and a currently neglected topic in Animal Cognition—the linkage between ontogeny and cognitive performance.
format	article
author	Simone Pika Miriam Jennifer Sima Christian R. Blum Esther Herrmann Roger Mundry
author_facet	Simone Pika Miriam Jennifer Sima Christian R. Blum Esther Herrmann Roger Mundry
author_sort	Simone Pika
title	Ravens parallel great apes in physical and social cognitive skills
title_short	Ravens parallel great apes in physical and social cognitive skills
title_full	Ravens parallel great apes in physical and social cognitive skills
title_fullStr	Ravens parallel great apes in physical and social cognitive skills
title_full_unstemmed	Ravens parallel great apes in physical and social cognitive skills
title_sort	ravens parallel great apes in physical and social cognitive skills
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/ebfc6d156bd64461abb40b6c392f14c2
work_keys_str_mv	AT simonepika ravensparallelgreatapesinphysicalandsocialcognitiveskills AT miriamjennifersima ravensparallelgreatapesinphysicalandsocialcognitiveskills AT christianrblum ravensparallelgreatapesinphysicalandsocialcognitiveskills AT estherherrmann ravensparallelgreatapesinphysicalandsocialcognitiveskills AT rogermundry ravensparallelgreatapesinphysicalandsocialcognitiveskills
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Ravens parallel great apes in physical and social cognitive skills

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