As any bird watcher will tell you, jays are among the most intelligent of birds. Now, a new study has found that like humans, the more intelligent a jay is, the better it is at controlling its impulses.
The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that jays that were better at solving problems and remembering the location of hidden food were also better at resisting the temptation to eat that food immediately.
In the study, jays were first trained toopen a box to retrieve a food reward. The box could only be opened with a specific sequence of steps, and the jays had to remember this sequence in order to get the food.
After they learned how to open the box, the jays were then presented with another, similar box that could not be opened. Inside this box was a food reward, but the jays could not eat it because the lid was glued shut.
The jays could see and smell the food, but they had to resist the temptation to eat it immediately. Instead, they had to wait until the researchers returned and opened the box for them.
The jays that were better at opening the first box were also better at resisting the temptation to eat the food in the second box. In other words, they were better at controlling their impulses.
The findings suggest that like humans, more intelligent animals have better self-control. This is likely because they are better able to think ahead and plan for the future.
So the next time you see a jay eating a nut, remember that it’s not just a clever bird, it’s also a bird with excellent self-control.
Although jays and humans seem very different on the surface, they actually share a lot of similarities. New research has shown that, just like humans, more intelligent jays have greater self-control.
A recent study looked at how well jays could resist the urge to eat cached food when they were hungry. The researchers found that the jays who were better at this task were also the ones with higher IQ scores. This suggests that there is a correlation between intelligence and self-control.
Interestingly, the researchers also found that the more intelligent jays were better at planning for the future. They were more likely to cache food in locations that they would remember later on. This is yet another example of how these birds are similar to humans.
It is clear that jays share many qualities with humans, including intelligence and self-control. This new research provides a fascinating insight into the minds of these creatures.
