Physical cognition in parrots: a comparative approach

101 Pages·2014·4.75 MB·English

Physical cognition in parrots: a
comparative approach

Dissertation

Zur Erlangung der Würde des Doktors der Naturwissenschaften

des Fachbereichs Biologie, der Fakultät für Mathematik,
Informatik und Naturwissenschaften,
der Universität Hamburg

vorgelegt von

Anastasia Krasheninnikova

aus
Moskau

Hamburg 2014

The evolution of sense is,
in a sense,
the evolution of nonsense.

from ‘Pnin’
Vladimir Nabokov, 1953

INHALTSVERZEICHNIS

Summary 1
Zusammenfassung 3
Introduction 5
Chapter 1
No evidence for an association of phylogeny and cognitive performance in parrots
Anastasia Krasheninnikova, Ulrike Busse, Jutta M. Schneider
submitted 9
Chapter 2
Comparative analysis of string-pulling behaviour in parrots: revealing evolutionary pressures that
shape cognitive abilities
Anastasia Krasheninnikova
submitted 19
Chapter 3
Patterned-string tasks: relation between fine motor skills and visual-spatial abilities in parrots
Anastasia Krasheninnikova
PLOS One 2013, 8(12): e85499 33
Chapter 4
Physical cognition in parrots: Performances of green-winged macaws in three means-end
paradigms
Anastasia Krasheninnikova, Sina Bohnec, Jana Verena Dave, Bianca Wist, Jannis Liedtke
unpublished 49
Chapter 5
Testing problem-solving capacities: differences between individual testing and social group setting
Anastasia Krasheninnikova, Jutta M. Schneider
Animal Cognition 2014, DOI 10.1007/s10071-014-0744-1 63
Chapter 6
Individual differences in cognitive paradigms relate to differences in personality
Anastasia Krasheninnikova
submitted 71
General Discussion 81
References 85
Acknowledgements 91
Author Contributions 93

Physical cognition in parrots Summary
SUMMARY
Animals differ considerably in intelligence, In my thesis, I provide the first evidence for an
defined as the speed and the success with which interrelation between visual-spatial and motor
they solve problems related to surviving in their abilities in non-mammalian animals by showing
environment. There are a number of evolutionary that more highly developed motor abilities
hypotheses which attempt to explain cognitive correlate positively with parrots’ performance in
variation across species as well as how cognitive patterned-string tasks.
traits may have evolved. A comparative approach Furthermore, parrots tested in a social
allows us to test these evolutionary questions on context and those tested singly showed similar
the origins of and the ecological pressures on cognitive capacity in solving patterned-string
cognitive abilities. For example: Do phylo- problems. In contrast to previous studies, my
genetically closely related species share similar findings revealed that, at least in the case of
cognitive abilities? What kind of evolutionary highly social species the testing in social settings
pressures shape cognitive abilities across does not appear to bias the results obtained in
species? Does the social environment play a physical cognition experiment. On the contrary,
special role in shaping cognition? Comparisons testing of problem-solving in a social context
across species require careful consideration of better reflects natural behaviour and is thus
the experimental methods used and the factors more ecologically relevant for highly social
that may affect an individual’s performance in an species that often have to deal with cognitive
experiment. challenges under conditions of social compe-
In this thesis, I studied the abilities of different tition. Furthermore, I could show that the
parrot species to solve physical problems. I used parrots’ willingness to participate in the tasks was
the string-pulling paradigm to investigate this significantly higher in a social context. Thus, the
issue – a method that has been proved to be social settings may provide advantages by
suitable for investigating cognitive evolution decreasing the level of individual fearfulness and
across species. I present the following new stress.
findings: The study species consistently showed
The considerable variation in the ability to individual differences in personality, which
solve patterned-string problems found among correlated with individual cognitive differences in
parrots was not related to their phylogenetic solving string-pulling problems, showing that
relationship. Rather, the variation in psittacines’ more explorative individuals were less accurate
cognitive abilities such as the understanding of in solving more complex string patterns. My
mean-end relations, connectedness, and findings also suggest that the effect of persona-
functionality was best explained by social lity on cognitive performance might depend on
components of their natural environment such as the complexity of the task. Moreover, differences
fission-fusion dynamics, breeding system and the in personality traits may also determine whether
size of the daily groups. It appears that parrots’ social context facilitates or impairs an individual’s
enhanced cognition in the physical domain is of a response to a novel situation. Differences in
domain-general nature, rather than an adaptive personality traits as well as social context thus
specialization to a certain ecological niche, and must be carefully considered when designing
might have been evolutionarily favoured by the setups, interpreting findings and comparing them
cognitive challenge of living in a complex social across species.
environment.

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Summary Physical cognition in parrots

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