IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v14y2023i1d10.1038_s41467-023-42203-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

American crows that excel at tool use activate neural circuits distinct from less talented individuals

Author

Listed:
  • LomaJohn T. Pendergraft

    (University of Washington, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
    University of Washington, Department of Psychology)

  • John M. Marzluff

    (University of Washington, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences)

  • Donna J. Cross

    (University of Utah, Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences)

  • Toru Shimizu

    (University of South Florida, Department of Psychology, College of Arts & Sciences)

  • Christopher N. Templeton

    (Western Washington University, Biology Department)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • LomaJohn T. Pendergraft & John M. Marzluff & Donna J. Cross & Toru Shimizu & Christopher N. Templeton, 2023. "American crows that excel at tool use activate neural circuits distinct from less talented individuals," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-42203-8
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42203-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-42203-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-023-42203-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wickham, Hadley, 2011. "The Split-Apply-Combine Strategy for Data Analysis," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 40(i01).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ravic Nijbroek & Kristin Piikki & Mats Söderström & Bas Kempen & Katrine G. Turner & Simeon Hengari & John Mutua, 2018. "Soil Organic Carbon Baselines for Land Degradation Neutrality: Map Accuracy and Cost Tradeoffs with Respect to Complexity in Otjozondjupa, Namibia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-20, May.
    2. Miller, Christine M.F. & Waterhouse, Hannah & Harter, Thomas & Fadel, James G. & Meyer, Deanne, 2020. "Quantifying the uncertainty in nitrogen application and groundwater nitrate leaching in manure based cropping systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    3. Sean McKenzie & Hilary Parkinson & Jane Mangold & Mary Burrows & Selena Ahmed & Fabian Menalled, 2018. "Perceptions, Experiences, and Priorities Supporting Agroecosystem Management Decisions Differ among Agricultural Producers, Consultants, and Researchers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, November.
    4. Ahmad Alsaber & Jiazhu Pan & Adeeba Al-Herz & Dhary S. Alkandary & Adeeba Al-Hurban & Parul Setiya & on behalf of the KRRD Group, 2020. "Influence of Ambient Air Pollution on Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity Score Index," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-17, January.
    5. Fulya Gokalp Yavuz & Barret Schloerke, 2020. "Parallel computing in linear mixed models," Computational Statistics, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 1273-1289, September.
    6. Rebecca Hong & Monica Perkins & Belinda J. Gabbe & Lincoln M. Tracy, 2022. "Comparing Peak Burn Injury Times and Characteristics in Australia and New Zealand," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-9, August.
    7. Merl, Robert & Stöckl, Thomas & Palan, Stefan, 2023. "Insider trading regulation and shorting constraints. Evaluating the joint effects of two market interventions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    8. Paul J McMurdie & Susan Holmes, 2014. "Waste Not, Want Not: Why Rarefying Microbiome Data Is Inadmissible," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-12, April.
    9. Debanjan Mukherjee & Ângelo Ferreira Chora & Jean-Christophe Lone & Ricardo S. Ramiro & Birte Blankenhaus & Karine Serre & Mário Ramirez & Isabel Gordo & Marc Veldhoen & Patrick Varga-Weisz & Maria M., 2022. "Host lung microbiota promotes malaria-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    10. Eff, Ellis Anthon, 2013. "Settlers and surnames: An atlas illustrating the origins of settlers in 19th century America," MPRA Paper 56296, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Nicole Smialek & Joachim Pander & Arne Heinrich & Juergen Geist, 2021. "Sneaker, Dweller and Commuter: Evaluating Fish Behavior in Net-Based Monitoring at Hydropower Plants—A Case Study on Brown Trout ( Salmo trutta )," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-20, January.
    12. Stefan LINGNER & Eiko THIESSEN & Kerrin MÜLLER & Eberhard HARTUNG, 2018. "Dry Biomass Estimation of Hedge Banks: Allometric Equation vs. Structure from Motion via Unmanned Aerial Vehicle," Journal of Forest Science, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 64(4), pages 149-156.
    13. Wilson Lara & Stella Bogino & Felipe Bravo, 2018. "Multilevel analysis of dendroclimatic series with the R-package BIOdry," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(5), pages 1-23, May.
    14. Mammen, Enno & Wilke, Ralf A. & Zapp, Kristina Maria, 2022. "Estimation of group structures in panel models with individual fixed effects," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-023, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    15. Sara Minoli & Jonas Jägermeyr & Senthold Asseng & Anton Urfels & Christoph Müller, 2022. "Global crop yields can be lifted by timely adaptation of growing periods to climate change," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    16. L. Marie Ende & Katja Knöllinger & Moritz Keil & Angelika J. Fiedler & Marianne Lauerer, 2021. "Possibly Invasive New Bioenergy Crop Silphium perfoliatum : Growth and Reproduction Are Promoted in Moist Soil," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, January.
    17. Carrie M. Leslie & Alva I. Strand & Elizabeth A. Ross & Giovanni Tolentino Ramos & Eli S. Bridge & Phillip B. Chilson & Christopher E. Anderson, 2021. "Shifting the Balance among the ‘Three Rs of Sustainability:’ What Motivates Reducing and Reusing?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-12, September.
    18. Cornelius J. König & Clemens B. Fell & Linus Kellnhofer & Gabriel Schui, 2015. "Are there gender differences among researchers from industrial/organizational psychology?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 105(3), pages 1931-1952, December.
    19. Kaur, Harsimran & Huggins, David R. & Carlson, Bryan & Stockle, Claudio & Nelson, Roger, 2022. "Dryland fallow vs flex-cropping decisions in inland Pacific Northwest of USA," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    20. Martín, Belén & Páez, Antonio, 2019. "Individual and geographic variations in the propensity to travel by active modes in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 103-113.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-42203-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.