A recent study indicates that crows can process visual information at twice the speed of mammals. This finding raises questions about decision-making in avian brains, which do not have a neocortex, a structure previously thought essential for such cognitive functions. Neurobiologist Andreas Nieder from the University of Tübingen highlighted the significance of understanding how differently organized brains, like those of birds, encode decisions.
Key facts
- Crows can evaluate visual information twice as fast as mammals.
- Research primarily focused on monkeys in decision-making studies.
- The random-dot-motion task is used to study visual processing.
- Neurons in the primate neocortex gather evidence over time.
- Andreas Nieder is a neurobiologist at the University of Tübingen.
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