|
|
Performance of birds in model cognitive tasks: a cross-taxon comparison
Schlőglová, Nikola ; Exnerová, Alice (advisor) ; Kahounová, Hana (referee)
Bird cognition is an immensely complex topic. Many factors influence how birds acquire, process and act upon obtained information. Some bird groups outshine others regarding their cognitive skills, and the underlying reasons for these differences are extensively researched and discussed. Birds naturally face varying environmental factors that could have driven the evolution of specialised cognitive adaptations not generalisable across all contexts. In contrast, some birds perform well in a broad range of cognitive tasks and may possess general intelligence. Model cognitive tasks help us gain standardised data on birds' cognitive performances to compare them across different taxa, which enables us to identify potential parallels. This thesis covers selected model cognitive tasks: string-pulling tasks, reasoning by exclusion tasks, transitive inference tasks, tasks related to mirror use and reversal learning tasks, for which it analyses and compares the performance of both well-studied and understudied bird taxa. The thesis describes the selected cognitive tasks, summarises available data and highlights correlations between birds' performances and other factors while discussing possible explanations for their varying performances. Finally, the thesis addresses the question of general intelligence...
|
guest ::
