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Animal memory: A review of delayed matching-to-sample data
Johan Lind1, Magnus Enquist1, Stefano Ghirlanda2
1Centre for the Study of Cultural Evolution, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
Behavioural Processes
|December 16, 2014
Summary
This meta-analysis of delayed matching-to-sample (DMTS) studies found minimal differences in immediate memory performance across 25 species. However, mammals outperformed pigeons in tasks with longer delays, suggesting species-specific working memory capacities.
Area of Science:
- Comparative psychology
- Animal cognition
- Behavioral neuroscience
Background:
- Delayed matching-to-sample (DMTS) is a key paradigm for assessing animal working memory.
- Understanding species-specific memory capacities is crucial for evolutionary and cognitive research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To meta-analyze DMTS data across diverse species to quantify working memory parameters.
- To compare memory performance and decay rates between birds, mammals, and bees.
Main Methods:
- Meta-analysis of over 90 datasets from DMTS studies involving 25 species.
- Estimation of zero-delay performance and rate of performance decay as a function of delay length.
- Statistical comparison of memory parameters across taxonomic groups.
Main Results:
- No significant variation in zero-delay performance was observed across species.
- Mammals demonstrated superior performance compared to pigeons at longer delay intervals.
- Pigeons are the most studied bird species; other avian species may exhibit comparable long-delay performance.
Conclusions:
- Working memory spans in DMTS studies range from seconds to minutes.
- Longer memory spans (days to months) likely involve specialized memory systems for biologically significant information.
- General memory for arbitrary events appears to be short-term across species.
