Abstract
The performance of a food-storing species, the marsh tit(Parus palustris), was compared with that of a nonstorer, the blue tit(P. caeruleus), in a spatial memory task in which birds had to return to a site where they had previously been allowed to eat part of a piece of peanut. No differences were found between species’ overall performance, but increasing retention interval from 1 min to 24 h brought about a decrease in performance. The results are discussed in relationship to the hypothesis that food-storing birds have a specialized spatial memory capacity.
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We thank the Royal Society (J.R.K.), SERC (J.R.K. & S.D.H.), St. Hilda’s College, Oxford (S.D.H.), and St. John’s College, Oxford (S.D.H.) for financial support. Sara Shettleworth provided valuable comments at all stages of this work. Marian Dawkins, Tim Guilford, and Andrew Hurly made useful comments on the manuscript. Mark Pagel and Jonathan Newman provided invaluable statistical advice.
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Healy, S.D., Krebs, J.R. Comparing spatial memory in two species of tit: Recalling a single positive location. Animal Learning & Behavior 20, 121–126 (1992). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03200409
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03200409