Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33143583›Full record

ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2020

New Caledonian crows plan for specific future tool use.

M Boeckle, M Schiestl, A Frohnwieser, R Gruber, R Miller, T Suddendorf, R D Gray, A H Taylor, N S Clayton

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
30citing papers in PubMed
3.2field-weighted citation impact, top 7% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

30 citing papers in PubMed, 64 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Embodied cognitive evolution and the limits of convergence.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Review
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  7. Review
  8. Is episodic-like memoryPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024
    Review
  9. The function of episodic memory in animals.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024
    Review
  10. Mental time travel in animals: the 'when' of mental time travel.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024
    Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. The prefrontal cortex: from monkey to man.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2024
    Review
  16. Review
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. The importance of thinking about the future in culture and cumulative cultural evolution.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 4 institutions in 6 countries.

M BoeckleDepartment of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
M SchiestlSchool of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
A FrohnwieserDepartment of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
R GruberSchool of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
R MillerDepartment of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
T SuddendorfSchool of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
R D GraySchool of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
A H TaylorSchool of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
N S ClaytonDepartment of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
University of Cambridge · GBUniversity of Auckland · NZThe University of Queensland · AUUniversity of Veterinary Sciences Brno · CZ

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The ability to plan for future events is one of the defining features of human intelligence. Whether non-human animals can plan for specific future situations remains contentious: despite a sustained research effort over the last two decades, there is still no consensus on this question. Here, we show that New Caledonian crows can use tools to plan for specific future events. Crows learned a temporal sequence where they were (a) shown a baited apparatus, (b) 5 min later given a choice of five objects and (c) 10 min later given access to the apparatus. At test, these crows were presented with one of two tool-apparatus combinations. For each combination, the crows chose the right tool for the right future task, while ignoring previously useful tools and a low-value food item. This study establishes that planning for specific future tool use can evolve via convergent evolution, given that corvids and humans shared a common ancestor over 300 million years ago, and offers a route to mapping the planning capacities of animals.

Indexed as

CrowsTool Use BehaviorAnimalsNew Caledoniacomparative cognitionfuture rewardNew Caledonian crowsplanningspoon test

Identifiers

PMID33143583
PMCPMC7735258
OpenAlexW3097048761

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.