Abstract
In this study, the improved Aesop’s fable paradigm—a series of experiments originally used to test whether some animals understand the causality associated with water replacement—was used to explore the cognitive ability of Azure-winged magpies (Cyanopica cyanus). Experimental results on causal cue tasks showed that the Azure-winged magpies prefer water-filled tubes over sand-filled tubes, heavy objects over light objects, and solid objects over hollow objects. However, they failed to notice the diameter and water level of the tubes. They also failed to pass the counterintuitive U-shaped tube task in arbitrary cue tasks. Our results demonstrated that Azure-winged magpies have a certain cognitive ability but not an understanding of causality, a characteristic comparable to that of other corvids. Moreover, Azure-winged magpies exhibited the ability of training transfer and analogical problem solving from the perspective of cognitive psychology. We believe that object-bias has little effect on Azure-winged magpies in this study. We can conclude that the Azure-winged magpies partially completed the tasks by trial-and-error learning.
Highlights
In this study, the improved Aesop’s fable paradigm—a series of experiments originally used to test whether some animals understand the causality associated with water replacement—was used to explore the cognitive ability of Azure-winged magpies (Cyanopica cyanus)
It is not difficult to imagine that animals with certain causal cognitive ability can solve many survival p roblems[1]
Given that stones are denser than water, throwing them into the bottle will raise the water level until the crow can drink it
Summary
The improved Aesop’s fable paradigm—a series of experiments originally used to test whether some animals understand the causality associated with water replacement—was used to explore the cognitive ability of Azure-winged magpies (Cyanopica cyanus). Did they partially pass the experiment in the Aesop’s fable paradigm and adjusted (but not completely change) their previous behavior as conditions changed (such as when the initially more functional object became no longer functional).The third category involves kea (Nestor notabilis) of the family psittacidae[10] They claimed no evidence of causal understanding of water displacement and highlight that such an understanding is not required for solving Aesop’s Fable by testing kea parrots on their understanding of water displacement. They found that the performance of children aged 5 to 7 years was similar to that of New Caledonian crows, and children over 8 years old were able to successfully complete all tasks (including U-shaped tubes) in the first trial Some of these researchers claimed that subjects exhibit an understanding of causality in Aesop’s fable paradigm[1,4,6,7]. This study emphasized that reasoning and learning must always exist simultaneously, that is, whether it is natural or artificial cognitive agent, it must continuously to accumulate and develop throughout learner’s life[21]
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