The fine-grained spatial abilities of three seed-caching corvids

Authors

• Brett M. Gibson, University of New HampshireFollow
• Alan Kamil, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2-2005

Comments

Published in Learning & Behavior 2005, 33 (1), 59-66. Copyright 2005 Psychonomic Society, Inc. Used by permission. http://lb.psychonomic-journals.org/

Abstract

We used a psychophysical method to examine the ability of three corvid species to discern fine-grained spatial information. Nutcrackers, pinyon jays, and scrub-jays were required to discriminate the distance between two landmarks on a computer screen in an operant chamber. All three species were able to discriminate between arrays that differed by 20 mm; the discrimination gradients for scrub-jays and pinyon jays were sharper than those for nutcrackers, however. The results suggest that differences in spatial memory among these species are not related to differences in fine-grained perception.