We humans like to think we’re the only ones who are experts at everything. But what if I told you there’s a parrot species that can understand probability—also known as statistical inference? Pretty amazing, right?
Tests on six kea parrots (Nestor notabilis) showed they can grasp probabilities, something previously only tested on humans and apes.
These findings reveal fascinating insights. They help us understand how non-human brains work and how animals might think in realistic ways. Plus, it connects to how artificial intelligence systems work, giving us a deeper look at our own creations.
The study also raises an important question: Does the brain develop specific sections for certain tasks (domain-specific thinking)? Or does the same cognitive process apply to different tasks (domain-general thinking)?
“Our results show that kea exhibits three signs of statistical inference. They can combine knowledge across cognitive areas to adjust their predictions,” the researchers wrote.
This means true statistical thinking exists outside of great apes, suggesting domain-general thinking can evolve in brains very different from primates.
The experiments involved six kea—Loki, Neo, Bruce, Plankton, Taz, and Blofeld. The parrots learned that black tokens meant a reward and orange tokens did not.
Researchers filled transparent jars with different amounts of black and orange tokens. Then, they pulled tokens from one or two jars in front of the parrots, keeping the color hidden. The parrots had to choose from a closed hand.
The kea preferred the hand with the highest number of black tokens, aiming for the reward. The total number of tokens in the jars didn’t affect their choices since the jars had equal amounts of each color. This ensured unbiased results.
When physical barriers were added, or the ratio of reward tokens changed, the parrots adapted their behavior accordingly.
This led researchers to conclude that these birds use advanced cognitive processes to make decisions based on probabilities.
Interestingly, similar experiments on infants and apes showed the same level of understanding, proving that kea parrots have comparable cognitive abilities.
However, more experiments are needed to fully grasp how animals’ brains work. Given that birds have been around for millions of years, their evolution is bound to reveal even more surprises.
“This has important implications for understanding how intelligence evolves and for research on creating artificial domain-general thought processes,” the researchers concluded.
The study was published in Nature Communications.
