Crows spontaneously exhibit analogical reasoning

Area of Science:

• Comparative psychology
• Cognitive ethology
• Animal cognition

Background:

• Analogical reasoning is considered a cornerstone of advanced human cognition and problem-solving.
• Historically, analogical reasoning was thought to be uniquely human, with limited evidence in non-human animals.
• Relational matching-to-sample (RMTS) is a key paradigm for assessing analogical reasoning, focusing on relational similarity rather than physical resemblance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the presence and extent of analogical reasoning abilities in corvids (crows).
• To determine if crows can exhibit relational matching behavior, a hallmark of analogical thought.
• To assess whether spontaneous relational responding occurs in crows without explicit RMTS training.

Main Methods:

• Crows were initially trained on identity matching-to-sample (IMTS) tasks.
• Following IMTS training, crows' performance on tasks requiring relational matching was assessed without further specific RMTS training.
• The study focused on choice responding where only the relationship (sameness or difference) between stimuli, not their physical features, was relevant for correct selection.

Main Results:

• Crows successfully exhibited relational matching behavior.
• Crucially, crows spontaneously displayed relational responding after only identity matching-to-sample (IMTS) training.
• This uninstructed relational matching in crows is comparable to spontaneous RMTS behavior previously observed only in apes.

Conclusions:

• Crows possess robust analogical reasoning capabilities, as evidenced by their spontaneous relational matching behavior.
• This study provides the most compelling evidence to date for analogical reasoning in a non-primate species.
• The findings challenge the notion of analogical reasoning as a uniquely primate or human ability.