Abstract
Inhibition (i.e. the ability to restrain ineffective responses to a given stimulus) is a good indicator of complex cognitive abilities in animals. Inhibition has been demonstrated in a broad range of mammals with foraging style and social group size identified as potential influences of this ability. Whether these ecological factors also apply to birds has not been well studied. Corvids, a family of birds well known for being able to accomplish difficult cognitive tasks often requiring inhibition, are a good model for studying inhibitory control. During this study, we measured the ability of Clark’s nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana), a relatively non-social, food specialist corvid to exercise inhibitory control during a detour-reaching test. Individuals had to retrieve a pine nut inserted into a transparent tube through one of the side openings without pecking directly at the nut from the front of the tube. Overall, nutcrackers were able to inhibit pecking directly at the food (i.e. prepotent response), instead detouring to the side to retrieve the reward. However, the nutcrackers first required a learning period before showing inhibitory control. The nutcrackers’ ability to inhibit was lower than other corvids studied to date, and we discuss the implications of this result for the role of sociality and dietary breadth for the evolution of inhibitory control.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Amici F, Aureli F, Call J (2008) Fission–fusion dynamics, behavioral flexibility, and inhibitory control in primates. Curr Biol 18:1415–1419. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.08.020
Bond AB, Kamil AC, Balda RP (2003) Social complexity and transitive inference in corvids. Anim Behav 65:479–487
Bond AB, Kamil AC, Balda RP (2007) Serial reversal learning and the evolution of behavioral flexibility in three species of North American corvids (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus, Nucifraga columbiana, Aphelocoma californica). J Comp Psych 121:372–379
Clary D, Kelly DM (2011) Cache protection strategies of a non-social food-caching corvid, Clark’s nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana). Anim Cogn 14:735–744
Clayton NS, Mellor R, Jackson A (1996) Seasonal patterns of food storing in the Jay Garrulus glandarius. Ibis 138:250–255
Curry RL, Townsend Peterson A, Langen TA (2002) Western scrub-jay (Aphelocoma californica), birds of North America. http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/712. Accessed 27 Sept 2015
Diamond A (1990) Developmental time course in human infants and infant monkeys, and the neural basis of the inhibitory control of reaching. In: Diamond A (ed) The development and neural bases of higher cognitive functions. Academy of Sciences, New York, pp 637–676
Emery NJ, Clayton NS (2004) The mentality of crows: convergent evolution of intelligence in corvids and apes. Science 306:1903–1907
Hauser MD (1999) Perseveration, inhibition and the prefrontal cortex: a new look. Current Opin Neurobiol 9:214–222
Jerison H (1973) Evolution of the brain and intelligence. Elsevier, New York
MacLean EL, Matthews LJ, Hare B et al (2012) How does cognition evolve? Phylogenetic comparative psychology. Anim Cogn 15:223–238. doi:10.1007/s10071-011-0448-8
MacLean EL, Hare B, Nunn CL et al (2014) The evolution of self-control. PNAS 111:E2140–E2148
Regolin L, Vallortigara G, Zanforlin M (1995) Detour behavior in the domestic chick: searching for a disappearing prey or a disappearing social partner. Anim Behav 50:203–211
Santos LR, Ericson BN, Hauser MD (1999) Constraints on problem solving and inhibition: object retrieval in cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus oedipus). J Comp Psychol 113:186–193
Shaw R, Clayton NS (2012) Eurasian jays, Garrulus glandarius, flexibly switch caching and pilfering tactics in response to social context. Anim Behav 84:1191–1200
Stevens JR, Rosati AG, Ross KR et al (2005) Will travel for food: spatial discounting in two new world monkeys. Curr Biol 15:1855–1860
Tomback DF (1998) Clark’s nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana), birds of North America. http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/331. Accessed 27 Sept 2015
Vlamings PHJM, Hare B, Call J (2010) Reaching around barriers: the performance of the great apes and 3–5-year-old children. Anim Cogn 13:273–285. doi:10.1007/s10071-009-0265-5
Zucca P, Antonelli F, Vallortigara G (2005) Detour behavior in three species of birds: quails (Coturnix sp.), herring gulls (Larus cachinnans) and canaries (Serinus canaria). Anim Cogn 8:122–128
Acknowledgments
We thank Ljerka Ostojic for granting access to the data for Eurasian jays and western scrub jays, allowing us to compare those species with nutcrackers. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions, which improved this manuscript. This research was supported by a Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery grant to DMK (RGPIN/312379-2009) and a NSERC Undergraduate Student Research award to JA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Vernouillet, A., Anderson, J., Clary, D. et al. Inhibition in Clark’s nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana): results of a detour-reaching test. Anim Cogn 19, 661–665 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-016-0952-y
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-016-0952-y