Abstract
Overriding motor impulses instigated by salient perceptual stimuli represent a fundamental inhibitory skill. Such motor self-regulation facilitates more rational behaviour, as it brings economy into the bodily interaction with the physical and social world. It also underlies certain complex cognitive processes including decision making. Recently, MacLean et al. (MacLean et al. 2014 Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 111, 2140–2148. (doi:10.1073/pnas.1323533111)) conducted a large-scale study involving 36 species, comparing motor self-regulation across taxa. They concluded that absolute brain size predicts level of performance. The great apes were most successful. Only a few of the species tested were birds. Given birds' small brain size—in absolute terms—yet flexible behaviour, their motor self-regulation calls for closer study. Corvids exhibit some of the largest relative avian brain sizes—although small in absolute measure—as well as the most flexible cognition in the animal kingdom. We therefore tested ravens, New Caledonian crows and jackdaws in the so-called cylinder task. We found performance indistinguishable from that of great apes despite the much smaller brains. We found both absolute and relative brain volume to be a reliable predictor of performance within Aves. The complex cognition of corvids is often likened to that of great apes; our results show further that they share similar fundamental cognitive mechanisms.
Highlights
Executive functions refer to a cluster of top-down cognitive expressions often contrasted with automatized, instinctual and2016 The Authors
We found a trial effect on performance in four of the bird species examined by MacLean et al, with no such effect in the Corvus species we examined
The Corvus species performed on a similar level to the great apes, despite vastly smaller absolute brain sizes
Summary
Executive functions refer to a cluster of top-down cognitive expressions often contrasted with automatized, instinctual and. These functions require cognitive effort: do they inhibit prepotent 2 responses, and they sometimes guide choice among several options. Self-control—commonly defined as the ability to decline an immediate small reward in favour of a larger future one—ranks among the most demanding. It requires deciding among options of differing values in relation to a temporal dimension. At the other end of the taxation spectrum, one finds, e.g. motor self-regulation, which requires only the hindering of a movement: one that is not immediately rewarding but does not infer major cost [2]
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