Oral Presentation (2) February 19

Although the common ancestor of birds and mammals lived over 150 million years ago, there are striking similarities in the cognitive abilities of corvids, parrots and primates. Examples include concept formation, tool use and symbolic communication. Recent studies using Western scrub jays (indigenous to the Western USA) have provided striking evidence that this species possesses social reasoning skills that are as complex as those so far demonstrated for the great apes. In this talk, I will discuss the idea that corvids and primates demonstrate a case for convergent mental evolution, with divergent evolution of neuroanatomical structures performing these similar functions. First, I will discuss how parts of the corvid forebrain (in particular, the neostriatum) may represent a similar achievement of evolution comparable to the primate prefrontal cortex. I will then describe three experiments on social cognition in scrub jays in which birds with a specific experience of pilfering other birds' caches appear to selectively project those experiences onto another bird. This may present a mechanism for preventing caches being stolen in the future. Naive birds without pilfering experience do not display this form of social cognition. I will then discuss the importance of taking an ethological perspective on cognitive experiments in non-human animals, the flexibility of using food caching and pilfering as a paradigm, and the perils of primatocentrism. Finally, I will discuss a recent series of experiments that examined self-recognition in scrub jays (using the cache recovery paradigm as a basis), the results of which propose that the 'great divide' between primates and corvids may be an awareness of 'self'.

EMERY, Nathan J.
Sub-department of Animal Behaviour
University of Cambridge
Madingley, Cambridge CB3 8AA, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1223 741807
Fax: +44 (0)1223 741802
nje23@cam.ac.uk