Title |
Using the Aesop's Fable Paradigm to Investigate Causal Understanding of Water Displacement by New Caledonian Crows
|
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Published in |
PLOS ONE, March 2014
|
DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0092895 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Sarah A. Jelbert, Alex H. Taylor, Lucy G. Cheke, Nicola S. Clayton, Russell D. Gray |
Abstract |
Understanding causal regularities in the world is a key feature of human cognition. However, the extent to which non-human animals are capable of causal understanding is not well understood. Here, we used the Aesop's fable paradigm--in which subjects drop stones into water to raise the water level and obtain an out of reach reward--to assess New Caledonian crows' causal understanding of water displacement. We found that crows preferentially dropped stones into a water-filled tube instead of a sand-filled tube; they dropped sinking objects rather than floating objects; solid objects rather than hollow objects, and they dropped objects into a tube with a high water level rather than a low one. However, they failed two more challenging tasks which required them to attend to the width of the tube, and to counter-intuitive causal cues in a U-shaped apparatus. Our results indicate that New Caledonian crows possess a sophisticated, but incomplete, understanding of the causal properties of displacement, rivalling that of 5-7 year old children. |
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Germany | 13 | 3% |
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Spain | 9 | 2% |
Mexico | 6 | 1% |
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Other | 55 | 12% |
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Scientists | 40 | 9% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 15 | 3% |
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Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
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United States | 3 | 1% |
Hungary | 2 | <1% |
Netherlands | 1 | <1% |
Finland | 1 | <1% |
Canada | 1 | <1% |
United Kingdom | 1 | <1% |
Thailand | 1 | <1% |
Other | 1 | <1% |
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Student > Master | 35 | 15% |
Researcher | 34 | 14% |
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Student > Postgraduate | 13 | 5% |
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Other | 32 | 14% |
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