Humans tend to think that we are the most intelligent life form on Earth, second only to closely related species such as chimpanzees and gorillas. However, there are several areas of recognition. homo sapiens Other primates are also not unparalleled. Is there any other animal brain that can operate on a human level, at least with respect to one function? Birds – again.
This is not the first time that birds such as crows and parrots have been shown to be able to think like us in certain ways. Jackdaws are intelligent crows that belong to the same family as crows and corvids. After testing the pair, an international team of researchers found that the birds’ working memory functions similarly to humans and higher primates. All of these species use something called “attractor dynamics,” which organize information into specific categories.
Unfortunately for them, that means they make the same mistakes we do. “Jackdaw (Corvus monedula) have behavioral biases similar to humans. “As memory demands increase, memories become less accurate and more biased,” the researchers wrote in their paper. study Recently published in Communication Biology.
something to remember so you don’t forget
Working memory is where we fixate on an item for a short period of time, like a zip code you search for in one browser tab and enter in the next. It can hold anything from numbers and words to images and concepts. However, these memories deteriorate quickly and have a limited capacity. The more things you try to remember, the less likely your brain will remember them all correctly.
Attractor dynamics assist the brain with working memory by receiving sensory input, such as color, and categorizing it. A very specific shade of red, “Fire Lily”, can quickly disappear from working memory, and over time it will remain less specific, but will still be remembered as “red”. You lose the details first, but you stick to the general idea longer.
Besides time, another factor that contributes to loss of working memory is distraction. Less noise, meaning fewer distractions both inside and outside your brain, makes it easier to distinguish fire lilies from other reds. If a hypothetical customer were viewing paint swatches of Fire She Lily, plus Sandstone (taupe) and London She Fog (gray), the demands on working memory would be increased, so remembering each color accurately becomes even more difficult.
Biases can also blur working memory, causing the brain to remember some red hues more accurately than others, especially if the brain separates all hues of red by “red.” This can occur if a particular customer has a specific idea of reds that are warmer or cooler than Fire Lily.If they see a red as slightly warmer than fire lily, they may believe another warm red teeth fire lily.
With lively colors
To find out whether crows use short-term memory via attractor dynamics to process stimuli, the researchers conducted a variety of color memory tests on two jackdaws. To begin the test, each bird had to peck a white button. Next, a color (the target color) was presented before a 64-color chart was presented. The Jackdaw looked at the table and had to pick the color that had been shown previously. If you answer correctly, you will receive your favorite treat, but if your answer is not completely accurate, but not nearly so, you will receive another treat.
The birds performed well with just one color, but their accuracy decreased as researchers challenged them to remember more target colors from a chart at once. They were more likely to choose a color that was close to, but not accurate to, the color of the target they were shown. This is probably due to the heavy load on short-term memory.
This is what you’ll see if your customer needs to remember not only Fire Lily, but also Sandstone and London Fog. The only difference is that while we humans can read color names, jackdaws only realize they got the color name wrong when they don’t get their favorite treat.
“Despite having vastly different visual systems and brain organization, corvids and primates exhibit similar attractor dynamics that can reduce noise in visual working memory representations,” the researchers wrote. is stated in the same paper. study.
We still need to understand how and why birds evolved attractor dynamics. Bird vision is different from human vision, so there may have been differences in color perception that the research team couldn’t account for. However, it appears that the same working memory mechanisms that evolved in humans and other primates evolved separately in the corvid family. “Bird brain” should be taken as a compliment.
Communication Biology, 2023. DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05442-5
