title: The development of caching and object permanence in Western scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica): which emerges first?
abstract: Recent studies on the food-caching behavior of corvids have revealed complex physical and social skills, yet little is known about the ontogeny of food caching in relation to the development of cognitive capacities. Piagetian object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are no longer visible. Here, the authors focus on Piagetian Stages 3 and 4, because they are hallmarks in the cognitive development of both young children and animals. Our aim is to determine in a food-caching corvid, the Western scrub-jay, whether (1) Piagetian Stage 4 competence and tentative caching (i.e., hiding an item invisibly and retrieving it without delay), emerge concomitantly or consecutively; (2) whether experiencing the reappearance of hidden objects enhances the timing of the appearance of object permanence; and (3) discuss how the development of object permanence is related to behavioral development and sensorimotor intelligence. Our findings suggest that object permanence Stage 4 emerges before tentative caching, and independent of environmental influences, but that once the birds have developed simple object-permanence, then social learning might advance the interval after which tentative caching commences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Lucie H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Salwiczek
authors.forename: Nathan J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Emery
authors.forename: Barney
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schlinger
authors.forename: Nicola S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Clayton
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior; D001288:Attention; D003210:Concept Formation; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D046368:Crows; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011939:Mental Recall; D009039:Motion Perception; D009042:Motivation; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012931:Social Environment; D013045:Species Specificity
references.citation: Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2007 Apr 29;362(1480):489-505
references.pmid: 17255008
references.citation: Brain Behav Evol. 2006;67(1):1-9
references.pmid: 16219995
references.citation: Nature. 2001 Nov 22;414(6862):443-6
references.pmid: 11719804
references.citation: Science. 2006 Jun 16;312(5780):1662-5
references.pmid: 16709747
references.citation: Child Dev. 1991 Dec;62(6):1227-46
references.pmid: 1786712
references.citation: Nature. 2007 Feb 22;445(7130):919-21
references.pmid: 17314979
references.citation: Cognition. 1986 Jun;23(1):21-41
references.pmid: 3742989
references.citation: Prev Vet Med. 2002 Sep 30;55(2):79-94
references.pmid: 12350313
references.citation: Anim Cogn. 2002 Sep;5(3):177-82
references.pmid: 12357290
references.citation: J Comp Psychol. 1991 Dec;105(4):357-65
references.pmid: 1778068
references.citation: Trends Cogn Sci. 2005 Mar;9(3):118-25
references.pmid: 15737820
references.citation: Mem Cognit. 1984 Jan;12(1):1-19
references.pmid: 6708806
references.citation: Curr Opin Neurobiol. 1995 Apr;5(2):149-54
references.pmid: 7620301
references.citation: Anim Cogn. 2007 Apr;10(2):243-58
references.pmid: 17242935
references.citation: Naturwissenschaften. 2003 May;90(5):238-40
references.pmid: 12743708
references.citation: J Comp Psychol. 1997 Mar;111(1):63-75
references.pmid: 9090138
references.citation: J Neurosci. 1995 Apr;15(4):2796-807
references.pmid: 7722629
references.citation: Curr Biol. 2007 May 15;17(10):856-61
references.pmid: 17462894
references.citation: Behav Neurosci. 2005 Oct;119(5):1368-74
references.pmid: 16300442
references.citation: J Comp Psychol. 2000 Jun;114(2):148-57
references.pmid: 10890586
references.citation: Nature. 1998 Sep 17;395(6699):272-4
references.pmid: 9751053
references.citation: Behav Brain Res. 1996 Jan;74(1-2):153-9
references.pmid: 8851924