title: Development of object permanence in food-storing magpies (Pica pica).
abstract: The development of object permanence was investigated in black-billed magpies (Pica pica), a food-storing passerine bird. The authors tested the hypothesis that food-storing development should be correlated with object-permanence development and that specific stages of object permanence should be achieved before magpies become independent. As predicted, Piagetian Stages 4 and 5 were reached before independence was achieved, and the ability to represent a fully hidden object (Piagetian Stage 4) emerged by the age when magpies begin to retrieve food. Contrary to psittacine birds and humans, but as in dogs and cats, no "A-not-B error" occurred. Although magpies also mastered 5 of 6 invisible displacement tasks, evidence of Piagetian Stage 6 competence was ambiguous.
authors.affiliation: AE Biopsychologie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pollok
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Prior
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Güntürkün
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001717:Birds; D003071:Cognition; D005502:Food; D008568:Memory