Crows protect visual working memory against interference.
| Autor: | Wagener L; Animal Physiology, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany., Rinnert P; Animal Physiology, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany., Veit L; Neurobiology of Vocal Communication, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany., Nieder A; Animal Physiology, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany. |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Zdroj: | The Journal of experimental biology [J Exp Biol] 2023 Mar 01; Vol. 226 (5). Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Feb 28. |
| DOI: | 10.1242/jeb.245453 |
| Abstrakt: | Working memory, the ability to actively maintain and manipulate information across time, is key to intelligent behavior. Because of the limited capacity of working memory, relevant information needs to be protected against distracting representations. Whether birds can resist distractors and safeguard memorized relevant information is unclear. We trained carrion crows in a delayed match-to-sample task to memorize an image while resisting other, interfering stimuli. We found that the repetition of the sample stimulus during the memory delay improved performance accuracy and accelerated reaction time relative to a reference condition with a neutral interfering stimulus. In contrast, the presentation of the image that constituted the subsequent non-match test stimulus mildly weakened performance. However, the crows' robust performance in this most demanding distractor condition indicates that sample information was actively protected from being overwritten by the distractor. These data show that crows can cognitively control and safeguard behaviorally relevant working memory contents. Competing Interests: Competing interests The authors declare no competing or financial interests. (© 2023. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.) |
| Databáze: | MEDLINE |
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