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Crows find it harder to switch to vocalizing than to pecking

Research: Behaviour, Other research

Choosing between actions can place different demands on the brain. In a task with carrion crows (Corvus corone), researchers found that switching to a vocal response was harder for the birds than switching to a peck.

A choice between calling and pecking

The researchers trained the crows to respond to arbitrary visual cues by either vocalizing or pecking. The cues appeared in sequences that differed in how often the required response changed. This let the researchers compare how the birds performed when they had to switch between making a sound and pecking.

The crows were accurate with both kinds of response. Their vocal responses were slower and more variable than their pecks. When the required response switched to a vocal one, reaction times increased and the birds sometimes made errors. Switching to pecking, by contrast, had little effect on their performance.

The pattern suggests that choosing and carrying out a vocal response can place a distinctive demand on cognitive control: the ability to select an action and switch when a cue calls for a different one. The authors interpret the results as evidence that voluntary vocalization in crows involves a form of executive control not seen to the same extent in pecking. The finding comes from this trained task; it does not show that every kind of crow vocalization has the same cost.

Sources and image credit

  1. Switch costs reveal vocal-specific executive demands during flexible action selection in crowsPrimærartikkelens DOI-oppføring.
  2. Switch costs reveal vocal-specific executive demands during flexible action selection in crowsPrimærartikkelens sammendrag og bibliografiske opplysninger; fullteksten er ikke kontrollert.

Image: Danrok / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Representative photograph. · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source

About this content: This story was produced with AI assistance within an editorial workflow developed by Wildlife Vagabond. Editorial responsibility remains with Wildlife Vagabond.How AI is used

Behaviour

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Carrion Crow Corvus corone Explore species

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