ReviewLearning & behavior2021
Convergent evolution of complex cognition: Insights from the field of avian cognition into the study of self-awareness.
Review in Learning & behavior, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Can an old rook learn new tricks? Vocal command comprehension and obedience in rooks (Corvus frugilegus).Animal cognition · 2025Article
- Embodied cognitive evolution and the limits of convergence.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Article
- Body Awareness Does Not Need a Pedigree: Mixed-Breed Dogs Rely More on Self-Representation Than Social Learning in a Spatial Task.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Domestic chickens solving mirror-mediated spatial location tasks uncovering their cognitive abilities.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Gaze tracking of large-billed crows (Corvus macrorhynchos) in a motion capture system.The Journal of experimental biology · 2024Article
- Body size awareness matters when dogs decide whether to detour an obstacle or opt for a shortcut.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Mirror stimulation in Eurasian jays (PeerJ · 2023Article
- A comparative study of mirror self-recognition in three corvid species.Animal cognition · 2023Article
- Memory for own actions in parrots.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Mirror-mediated string-pulling task in Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius).Animal cognition · 2022Article
- Awareness and consciousness in humans and animals - neural and behavioral correlates in an evolutionary perspective.Frontiers in systems neuroscience · 2022Article
- A preliminary attempt to investigate mirror self-recognition inFrontiers in physiology · 2022Article
- Cross-modal individual recognition in the African penguin and the effect of partnership.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Referential alarm calling elicits future vigilance in a host of an avian brood parasite.Biology letters · 2021Article
- Neural Processes Underlying Tool Use in Humans, Macaques, and Corvids.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Pioneering research on avian behaviour and cognitive neuroscience have highlighted that avian species, mainly corvids and parrots, have a cognitive tool kit comparable with apes and other large-brained mammals, despite conspicuous differences in their neuroarchitecture. This cognitive tool kit is driven by convergent evolution, and consists of complex processes such as casual reasoning, behavioural flexibility, imagination, and prospection. Here, we review experimental studies in corvids and parrots that tested complex cognitive processes within this tool kit. We then provide experimental examples for the potential involvement of metacognitive skills in the expression of the cognitive tool kit. We further expand the discussion of cognitive and metacognitive abilities in avian species, suggesting that an integrated assessment of these processes, together with revised and multiple tasks of mirror self-recognition, might shed light on one of the most highly debated topics in the literature-self-awareness in animals. Comparing the use of multiple assessments of self-awareness within species and across taxa will provide a more informative, richer picture of the level of consciousness in different organisms.
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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.