In a quiet laboratory in Tübingen, two carrion crows watched drifting clouds of dots and chose a side in roughly a quarter of a second, faster than humans and monkeys typically manage on similar judgments. Their decisions held up under the pressure of speed, and the neurons that carried them could be observed at work, a reminder that minds very different from our own can reach careful conclusions with remarkable economy. Yet the evidence rests on just two birds, so what it reveals is, for now, a glimpse of possibility rather than a portrait of an entire species.
Carrion Crows Decide Visual Motion Twice as Fast as Humans and Monkeys, Study Finds
Two crows, 235 milliseconds, and accuracy near 100 percent
Mark
So what exactly did the crows do?
Mimi
They watched dots moving on a touchscreen, decided whether most were going left or right, and pecked the matching side. They averaged 235 milliseconds.
Mark
And that's fast compared with us?
Mimi
About twice as fast as humans and monkeys, according to the researchers, and they stayed accurate. With clear signals they got nearly 100 percent.
Luke
Before we get carried away: how many crows?
Mimi
Two carrion crows.
Luke
Then the speed is a finding about those two birds. It's published in Science, which counts for something, but it can't tell us about crows in general, let alone all birds.
Mark
What did they find in the brain?
Mimi
They recorded single neurons in the nidopallium caudolaterale, which does a job similar to the prefrontal cortex in people. The activity matched the quick responses, and processing began in as little as 70 milliseconds.
Luke
I'd note the human and monkey comparison is the researchers' framing. The source doesn't say how those tasks were matched to this one, so I'd hold the 'twice as fast' claim loosely.
Mark
So what's solid?
Mimi
The crows' timing, their accuracy, and the neural recordings. What it means for bird cognition more broadly is still open.
The Pulse
- Two crows at the University of Tübingen judged the direction of moving dots in about 235 milliseconds, roughly double the human pace.
- The speed threatened to come at the cost of accuracy, but the birds stayed near-perfect when the signal was clear and still beat chance when it was hard.
- Inside their brains, neurons in the nidopallium caudolaterale were tracked as decisions formed, with processing starting as early as 70 milliseconds.
- The result is published in Science, but it rests on only two birds, leaving researchers needing broader replication before claiming anything about crows in general.
In a quiet laboratory in Tübingen, two carrion crows watched drifting clouds of dots and chose a side in roughly a quarter of a second, faster than humans and monkeys typically manage on similar judgments. Their decisions held up under the pressure of speed, and the neurons that carried them could be observed at work, a reminder that minds very different from our own can reach careful conclusions with remarkable economy. Yet the evidence rests on just two birds, so what it reveals is, for now, a glimpse of possibility rather than a portrait of an entire species.
Two carrion crows sat before a touchscreen at the University of Tübingen and watched a cloud of dots drift across it. Their job was simple: decide whether most of the dots were moving left or right, then peck the matching side. On average, they answered in 235 milliseconds.
That number is the headline of a study in the journal Science, and it is about twice as fast as humans and monkeys manage on comparable visual-motion decisions. The speed did not cost accuracy. Researchers Philipp Schmidbauer and Professor Andreas Nieder of the Institute of Neurobiology varied how easy the motion was to read. When the signal was faint, the birds still did better than guessing, and when it was clear, they were nearly perfect.
The team also recorded individual neurons in the nidopallium caudolaterale, a region that supports decision-making and plays a role similar to the human prefrontal cortex. The crows' quick choices were matched by equally quick activity in these cells, with processing reportedly beginning as early as 70 milliseconds.
The researchers are careful about the limits. Only two birds were studied, and two animals can show what crows are capable of, but not what they typically do. More birds and perhaps other species will be needed before anyone speaks broadly about avian cognition. For now, the study offers a precise measurement and a view of the neurons behind it.
Two carrion crows sat in front of a touchscreen at the University of Tübingen and watched a cloud of dots drift across it. Their task was to decide whether most of the dots were moving left or right, and to answer by pecking a target on the matching side. On average, they took 235 milliseconds to do it.
That figure is the headline of a study published in the journal Science. Researchers at Tübingen say it is about twice as fast as humans and monkeys manage on comparable decisions about visual motion. The speed did not cost the birds their accuracy.
The work comes from Philipp Schmidbauer and Professor Andreas Nieder of the university's Institute of Neurobiology. The experiment was simple in design. The dots moved across the screen, the crow judged the dominant direction, and a peck on the left or right registered the choice. The difficulty of the task varied, because the direction of motion was sometimes easy to see and sometimes hard.
The crows handled both conditions. Schmidbauer said that even when the motion patterns were hard to recognize, the birds' decisions were still better than random choices. When the signal was clear, he said, they reached an accuracy of nearly 100 percent.
The researchers also wanted to know what was happening inside the birds' brains during those fractions of a second. They recorded the activity of individual neurons as the crows worked through the task. The recordings came from a region called the nidopallium caudolaterale, which processes information and supports decision-making. It plays a role comparable to that of the prefrontal cortex in the human brain. According to the paper, the crows' rapid responses were matched by equally impressive activity in these brain cells. The study reports that the crow brain began processing the decision in as little as 70 milliseconds.
The findings add to the picture of how bird brains handle information and make choices, a question that matters because birds reach such decisions with brains organized differently from those of mammals.
One limit is worth stating plainly. The experiments involved only two carrion crows. Two birds can show what is possible for crows, but they cannot show what is typical. Wider replication, with more birds and perhaps other species, will be needed before anyone generalizes about avian cognition. For now, the study offers a precise measurement and a look at the neurons behind it, and it leaves open how far the result extends beyond these two animals.
Notable Quotes
Even when the motion patterns were hard to recognize, the crows' decisions were still better than random, and with clear signals they reached nearly 100 percent accuracy.— Philipp Schmidbauer, University of Tübingen (paraphrased)
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