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Of babies and birds: complex tool behaviours are not sufficient for the evolution of the ability to create a novel causal intervention

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: Humans are capable of simply observing a correlation between cause and effect, and then producing a novel behavioural pattern in order to recreate the same outcome. However, it is unclear how the ability to create such causal interventions evolved. Here, we show that while 24-month-old children can produce an effective, novel action after observing a correlation, tool-making New Caledonian crows cannot. These results suggest that complex tool behaviours are not sufficient for the evolution of this ability, and that causal interventions can be cognitively and evolutionarily disassociated from other types of causal understanding.

Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0837

Authors: Alex H. Taylor, Lucy G. Cheke, Anna Waismeyer, Andrew N. Meltzoff, Rachael Miller, Alison Gopnik, Nicola S. Clayton, Russell D. Gray

Institutions: University of Auckland, University of Cambridge, University of Washington, University of Vienna, University of California, Berkeley

Language: English

Topic: Child and Animal Learning Development

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

OpenAlex ID: W2115200231

FWCI: 7.809

Cites: 36

Cited by: 31

Related to: 10