Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany.
Anim Cogn. 2011 Jul;14(4):555-63. doi: 10.1007/s10071-011-0390-9. Epub 2011 Mar 1.
The trap tube is a classic test of causal reasoning abilities in animals in the physical domain. Recently, a modified version of this task improved its diagnostic capacity and allowed testing of non-tool-using animals. We used this modified two-trap tube task to compare the cognition of two Darwin's finch species: the woodpecker finch, Cactospiza pallida, a tool-using species, and the small tree finch, Camarhynchus parvulus, a closely related non-tool-using species. Not all woodpecker finches use tools in nature, and we therefore also tested non-tool-using individuals to assess the effect of experience on trap tube performance. No small tree finches and only two non-tool-using woodpecker finches solved the initial task which was operated using a pre-inserted piston. One tool-using woodpecker finch solved the task when allowed to use its own tool instead of the pre-inserted piston. The fact that none of these subjects transferred their knowledge when the features of the task changed, suggests that in this species, neither experience using tools nor the genetic composition of a tool-user are associated with the general physical cognitive skills required to solve the trap tube task.
管中窥豹是一种经典的动物物理因果推理能力测试。最近，这种测试的一个改良版本提高了其诊断能力，并允许对非使用工具的动物进行测试。我们使用这种改良的双管任务来比较两种达尔文雀物种的认知能力：啄木鸟雀，一种使用工具的物种，以及小树雀，一种亲缘关系密切的非使用工具的物种。并非所有啄木鸟雀在自然界中都使用工具，因此我们还测试了不使用工具的个体，以评估经验对管中窥豹任务表现的影响。没有小树雀，只有两只不使用工具的啄木鸟雀解决了初始任务，该任务使用预先插入的活塞操作。当允许使用自己的工具而不是预先插入的活塞时，一只使用工具的啄木鸟雀解决了任务。这些主体在任务特征发生变化时没有转移其知识的事实表明，在这个物种中，使用工具的经验和工具使用者的遗传组成都与解决管中窥豹任务所需的一般物理认知技能无关。
