Testing visual short-term memory of pigeons (Columba livia) and a rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) with a location change detection task

Leising, Kenneth J.; Elmore, L. Caitlin; Rivera, Jacquelyne J.; Magnotti, John F.; Katz, Jeffrey S.; Wright, Anthony A.

doi:10.1007/s10071-013-0644-9

Cited by 9 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Recent comparative work has estimated WM-capacity in monkeys 29 , 46 , 49 and even compared monkeys and pigeons 50 – 52 . Among these studies, rhesus macaques were estimated to have a capacity of about two 51 , 52 or four 29 , 46 . Capacity of pigeons was estimated at about one 51 , 52 or two 50 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among these studies, rhesus macaques were estimated to have a capacity of about two 51 , 52 or four 29 , 46 . Capacity of pigeons was estimated at about one 51 , 52 or two 50 . While monkeys clearly exceeded the pigeons in a direct comparison with identical protocol and analysis, the vastly different estimates between studies highlight the difficulties when different paradigms or analyses are used.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Crows Rival Monkeys in Cognitive Capacity

Balakhonov

Rose

2017

Sci Rep

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The present study compares the ‘bandwidth of cognition’ between crows and primates. Working memory is the ability to maintain and manipulate information over short periods of time – a core component of cognition. The capacity of working memory is tightly limited, in humans correlated with individual intelligence and commonly used synonymously with cognitive capacity. Crows have remarkable cognitive skills and while birds and mammals share neural principles of working memory, its capacity has not been tested in crows. Here we report the performance of two carrion crows on a working memory paradigm adapted from a recent experiment in rhesus monkeys. Capacity of crows is remarkably similar to monkeys and estimated at about four items. In both species, the visual hemifields show largely independent capacity. These results show that crows, like primates evolved a high-capacity working memory that reflects the result of convergent evolution of higher cognitive abilities in both species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crows Rival Monkeys in Cognitive Capacity

Balakhonov

Rose

2017

Sci Rep

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“…Pigeons could, for example be using visual short-term memory (or visual working memory) to compare stimuli across the ISI. Similar kinds of change detection tasks have been used quite effectively to study visual short term memory in pigeons and monkeys ( Cook et al, 2003 ; Elmore et al, 2012 ; Leising et al, 2013 ), though with different stimuli and time intervals. However, given the short ISI duration in the present experiment it is possible that pigeons instead used sensory memory to compare successive images.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Change blindness in pigeons (Columba livia): the effects of change salience and timing

Herbranson

2015

Front. Psychol.

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Change blindness is a well-established phenomenon in humans, in which plainly visible changes in the environment go unnoticed. Recently a parallel change blindness phenomenon has been demonstrated in pigeons. The reported experiment follows up on this finding by investigating whether change salience affects change blindness in pigeons the same way it affects change blindness in humans. Birds viewed alternating displays of randomly generated lines back-projected onto three response keys, with one or more line features on a single key differing between consecutive displays. Change salience was manipulated by varying the number of line features that changed on the critical response key. Results indicated that change blindness is reduced if a change is made more salient, and this matches previous human results. Furthermore, accuracy patterns indicate that pigeons’ effective search area expanded over the course of a trial to encompass a larger portion of the stimulus environment. Thus, the data indicate two important aspects of temporal cognition. First, the timing of a change has a profound influence on whether or not that change will be perceived. Second, pigeons appear to engage in a serial search for changes, in which additional time is required to search additional locations.

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“…The physiological correlate of WM has been described in pigeons performing a visual go-no-go task (Diekamp et al, 2002), where pigeons had to maintain an instructive color across a delay and match a behavioral response. Direct comparisons of monkeys and pigeons performing the same task have been performed, using a change detect paradigm (Leising et al, 2013;Wright and Elmore, 2016). The results indicate that there is no major difference between the species.…”

Section: Working Memory Of Different Species: Similarities Differencmentioning

confidence: 99%

Working Memory as an Indicator for Comparative Cognition – Detecting Qualitative and Quantitative Differences

Hahn

Rose

2020

Front. Psychol.

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Working memory (WM), the representation of information held accessible for manipulation over time, is an essential component of all higher cognitive abilities. It allows for complex behaviors that go beyond simple stimulus-response associations and inflexible behavioral patterns. WM capacity determines how many different pieces of information (items) can be used for these cognitive processes, and in humans, it correlates with fluid intelligence. As such, WM might be a useful tool for comparison of cognition across species. WM can be tested using comparatively simple behavioral protocols, based on operant conditioning, in a multitude of different species. Speciesspecific contextual variables that influence an animal's performance on a non-cognitive level are controlled by adapting the WM paradigm. The neuronal mechanisms by which WM emerges in the brain, as sustained neuronal activity, are comparable between the different species studied (mammals and birds), as are the areas of the brain in which WM activity can be measured. Thus WM is comparable between vastly different species within their respective niches, accounting for specific contextual variables and unique adaptations. By approaching the question of "general cognitive abilities" or "intelligence" within the animal kingdom from the perspective of WM, the complexity of the core question at hand is reduced to a fundamental memory system required to allow for complex cognitive abilities. This article argues that measuring WM can be a suitable addition to the toolkit of comparative cognition. By measuring WM on a behavioral level and going beyond behavior to the underlying physiological processes, qualitative and quantitative differences in cognition between different animal species can be identified, free of contextual restraints.

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Testing visual short-term memory of pigeons (Columba livia) and a rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) with a location change detection task

Cited by 9 publications

References 12 publications

Crows Rival Monkeys in Cognitive Capacity

Crows Rival Monkeys in Cognitive Capacity

Change blindness in pigeons (Columba livia): the effects of change salience and timing

Working Memory as an Indicator for Comparative Cognition – Detecting Qualitative and Quantitative Differences

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