Cognition III Tools Numbers Minds

Tool Use in Animals Broad definition: The ability to use an external object to gain a desired end. But… a more stringent definition is that tool use requires reasoning and insight; the user must have some understanding of the mechanics required to meet the goal. Can animals meet this more stringent definition?

Tool Use “This occurred on the fifth trial of an experiment in which the crows had to choose between a hooked and a straight wire and only after the hooked wire had been removed by the other subject (a male). The animals had prior experience with the apparatus, but their only previous experience with pliant material was 1 hour of free manipulation with flexible pipe- cleaners a year before this experiment, and they were not familiar with wire.” video2

Numerosity Basic paradigm: Touching stimuli in numerical order produces a reward.

Numerosity (Brannon & Terrace, 1998)

Test with novel stimuli Train (#’s 1-4)Test (#’s 5-9)

Theory of Mind in Birds? Theory of mind: The ability to understand others’ mental states and to reason about their motivations.

Design of Emery & Clayton Caching with observer present Caching in private Caching birds given opportunity to re- cache seeds in private in a new location or an old location

Behavior during the re-caching session Some birds had previously been pilferers (Pilferers or Observer + Pilferer) and others had not (Observers) Observers Observer + Pilferer Pilferers

Conclusions S-R accounts are not sufficient Animals can represent abstract properties of stimuli and the relations among stimuli including –Spatial relations –Simple mechanics –Number –Possibly the intentions of others The cognitive differences between humans and other species are unclear.