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Does absolute brain size really predict self-control? Hand-tracking training improves performance on the A-not-B

S A Jelbert¹, A H Taylor², R D Gray³

¹School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand s.jelbert@auckland.ac.nz.

Biology Letters

|February 5, 2016

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Comparative cognition studies face challenges. New Caledonian crows

Keywords:

New Caledonian crows comparative cognition corvids evolution of intelligence primates self-control

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Area of Science:

Comparative cognition
Evolution of intelligence
Animal behavior

Background:

Large-scale comparative cognition studies aim to understand intelligence evolution.
Cognitive test limitations can bias evolutionary conclusions.
The A-not-B task has been used to study self-control across species.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if task-specific demands, not just cognition, affect performance on the A-not-B task.
To re-evaluate conclusions about self-control and brain size in comparative cognition.
To assess the impact of training on A-not-B task performance in New Caledonian crows.

Main Methods:

Assessed New Caledonian crows on the A-not-B task.
Implemented two training conditions: tracking a human demonstrator and an unrelated inhibitory control task.
Compared performance on the A-not-B task before and after training.

Main Results:

New Caledonian crows performed poorly on the A-not-B task, potentially due to difficulty tracking human movement.
Crows trained to track rewards moved by a demonstrator showed improved A-not-B task performance.
Performance was better after tracking training compared to inhibitory control training.

Conclusions:

Task demands, such as tracking a demonstrator, can significantly influence performance on cognitive tasks like A-not-B.
Previous conclusions linking absolute brain size to self-control may be confounded by task-specific factors.
The study highlights the need to carefully consider task design in comparative cognition research.