University of Washington, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA.
University of Washington, Department of Psychology, Seattle, WA, USA.
Nat Commun. 2023 Oct 20;14(1):6539. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-42203-8.
Tools enable animals to exploit and command new resources. However, the neural circuits underpinning tool use and how neural activity varies with an animal's tool proficiency, are only known for humans and some other primates. We use 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography to image the brain activity of naïve vs trained American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) when presented with a task requiring the use of stone tools. As in humans, talent affects the neural circuits activated by crows as they prepare to execute the task. Naïve and less proficient crows use neural circuits associated with sensory- and higher-order processing centers (the mesopallium and nidopallium), while highly proficient individuals increase activity in circuits associated with motor learning and tactile control (hippocampus, tegmentum, nucleus basorostralis, and cerebellum). Greater proficiency is found primarily in adult female crows and may reflect their need to use more cognitively complex strategies, like tool use, to obtain food.
工具使动物能够开发和利用新资源。然而，支持工具使用的神经回路以及动物的工具使用熟练程度如何影响神经活动，目前仅在人类和其他一些灵长类动物中有所了解。我们使用 18F-氟脱氧葡萄糖正电子发射断层扫描来观察当面临需要使用石器的任务时，未经过训练的美国乌鸦（Corvus brachyrhynchos）与经过训练的美国乌鸦的大脑活动。与人类一样，天赋会影响乌鸦在准备执行任务时激活的神经回路。未经过训练和不太熟练的乌鸦使用与感觉和高级处理中心（中脑和脑桥）相关的神经回路，而高度熟练的个体则增加与运动学习和触觉控制相关的回路的活动（海马体、脑桥被盖、基底前脑核和小脑）。更高的熟练程度主要出现在成年雌性乌鸦中，这可能反映了它们需要使用更复杂的认知策略，如使用工具，来获取食物。
