ArticlePeerJ2016
Western scrub-jays do not appear to attend to functionality in Aesop's Fable experiments.
Article in PeerJ, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Meta-analytic techniques reveal that corvid causal reasoning in the Aesop's Fable paradigm is driven by trial-and-error learning.Animal cognition · 2018Pooled it
- Trial
- Mechanical problem solving by plush-crested jays: are tools special after all?Animal cognition · 2024Article
- Performance of Azure-winged magpies in Aesop's fable paradigm.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Article
- How far will a behaviourally flexible invasive bird go to innovate?Royal Society open science · 2016Article
- Article
- Performance in Object-Choice Aesop's Fable Tasks Are Influenced by Object Biases in New Caledonian Crows but not in Human Children.PloS one · 2016Article
- Eurasian jays do not copy the choices of conspecifics, but they do show evidence of stimulus enhancement.PeerJ · 2016Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Western scrub-jays are known for their highly discriminatory and flexible behaviors in a caching (food storing) context. However, it is unknown whether their cognitive abilities are restricted to a caching context. To explore this question, we tested scrub-jays in a non-caching context using the Aesop's Fable paradigm, where a partially filled tube of water contains a floating food reward and objects must be inserted to displace the water and bring the food within reach. We tested four birds, but only two learned to drop stones proficiently. Of these, one bird participated in 4/5 experiments and one in 2/5 experiments. Both birds passed one experiment, but without attending to the functional differences of the objects, and failed the other experiments. Scrub-jays were not motivated to participate in these experiments, suggesting that either this paradigm was ecologically irrelevant or perhaps their flexibility is restricted to a caching context.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.