Of babies and birds: complex tool behaviours are not sufficient for the evolution of the ability to create a novel causal intervention
Bibliographic Collection:
CARTA-Inspired Publication
Publication Type: Journal Article
Authors: Taylor, A.H.; Cheke, L.G.; Waismeyer, A.; Meltzoff, A.N.; Miller, R.; Gopnik, A.; Clayton, N.S.; Gray, R.D.
Year of Publication: 2014
Journal: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences
Volume: 281
Number: 1787
Date Published: 07/2014
Publication Language: eng
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.
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