Tool-use and cognitive abilities in birds and primates

Speaker:
Sabine Tebbich

Abstract:

If cognition is an adaptation to solve ecologically relevant problems, we should expect to find specialized computational devices for solving problems related to tool-use in species that obtain important parts of their diet with the help of tools. Learning about spatial structures and relationships as well as causal reasoning seem likely to improve tool-using behaviour. In my talk, I will explore evidence for the idea that tool-use in animals favoured the evolution of these domain-specific cognitive abilities.

Drawing on comparative studies in primates as well as my own empirical research on tool-using woodpecker finches and non-tool-using rooks, I will give a short overview of the cognitive mechanisms underlying tool-use in different animal species and discuss whether the results acquired to date allow us to draw conclusions about the evolution of cognitive abilities required for tool-use.

Papers:

Tebbich, S., Bshary, R. 2004. Cognitive abilities related to tool use in the woodpecker finch Cactospiza pallida. Animal Behaviour 67: 689-697

Tebbich, S. Seed, A., Emery, N.& Clayton, N. 2007. Non-tool-using rooks (Corvus frugilegus) solve the trap-tube task. Animal Cognition, 10: 225-231

Seed, A. Tebbich, S. Emery, N & Clayton.2006. Investigating physical cognition in rooks. Current Biology 16: 697-701.