ArticleScience (New York, N.Y.)2023
Songbird species that display more-complex vocal learning are better problem-solvers and have larger brains.
Article in Science (New York, N.Y.), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed.
- Endothermy, neuron counts, and other issues: Further remarks on neurocognitive evolution in fossil vertebrates.Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2026Article
- T. rex cognition was T. rex-like-A critical outlook on diverging views of the neurocognitive evolution in dinosaurs.Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2026Review
- Article
- Variation in song structure does not predict associative learning performance in zebra finches (Taeniopygia castanotis) raised under controlled cultural conditions.Animal cognition · 2026Article
- The evolutionary consequences of behavioural plasticity.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Genetic Insights into Head-to-Body Ratios Via Deep Learning-Based Image Segmentation and Implications for Common Diseases.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Insights into Convergent Evolution From Studying Amino Acid Patterns in Independent Lineages of Birds.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Can an old rook learn new tricks? Vocal command comprehension and obedience in rooks (Corvus frugilegus).Animal cognition · 2025Article
- Generative vocal plasticity in chimpanzees.iScience · 2025Article
- The global determinants of climate niche breadth in birds.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Vocal Learning Versus Speech Evolution: Untangling a False Equivalence.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Human-specific genetic modifiers of cortical architecture and function.Current opinion in genetics & development · 2024Review
- Are comparable studies really comparable? Suggestions from a problem-solving experiment on urban and rural great tits.Animal cognition · 2024Article
- Short-term memory, attentional control and brain size in primates.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- Smarter foragers do not forage smarter: a test of the diet hypothesis for brain expansion.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- How to solve novel problems: the role of associative learning in problem-solving performance in wild great tits Parus major.Animal cognition · 2024Article
- Problem-solving skills are predicted by technical innovations in the wild and brain size in passerines.Nature ecology & evolution · 2024Article
- Mixed-species flock sizes and compositions influence flock members' success in three field experiments with novel feeders.PloS one · 2024Article
- Songbird species that display more-complex vocal learning are better problem-solvers and have larger brains.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2023Article
- Responses in adult pied flycatcher males depend on playback song similarity to local population.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral EcologyArticle
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Complex vocal learning, a critical component of human spoken language, has been assumed to be associated with more-advanced cognitive abilities. Tests of this hypothesis between individuals within a species have been inconclusive and have not been done across species. In this work, we measured an array of cognitive skills-namely, problem-solving, associative and reversal learning, and self-control-across 214 individuals of 23 bird species, including 19 wild-caught songbird species, two domesticated songbird species, and two wild-caught vocal nonlearning species. We found that the greater the vocal learning abilities of a species, the better their problem-solving skills and the relatively larger their brains. These conclusions held when controlling for noncognitive variables and phylogeny. Our results support a hypothesis of shared genetic and cognitive mechanisms between vocal learning, problem-solving, and bigger brains in songbirds.
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