In a small study now echoing through several science outlets, two crows were given a classic test of visual decision-making and reached their choices roughly twice as fast as humans and monkeys. Its larger meaning is less about avian speed than about anatomy: the same underlying calculation appears to run in crows and flies, which lack the layered neocortex that primates rely on, suggesting that the machinery for weighing what we see may be older and more widely shared than the brains we usually study. As with any finding built on two individuals, the claim will be measured by whether others c
Crows Make Visual Decisions About Twice as Fast as Humans, Study Finds
Two crows, one classic test, and a result twice as fast as ours.
Mark
So what's the headline here? Crows decide faster than we do?
Mimi
Visual decisions, specifically. In a classic psychology test, two crows made choices roughly twice as fast as humans and monkeys.
Luke
Two crows. I'd start there. That's a tiny sample, and nothing in what we have tells us how general the result is.
Mark
Fair. But why did several outlets pick it up?
Mimi
Because of the brain angle. Reports say crows, flies and monkeys appear to run the same decision calculation, even though crows and flies have no neocortex.
Mark
So the neocortex isn't required for this kind of decision?
Luke
That's the interpretation as reported. I'd call it attributed, not settled. We don't have the paper's methods in front of us.
Mimi
Right, and the flies are a striking part. Very different brains, apparently the same underlying math.
Mark
What would make you more confident?
Luke
More birds, more tasks, and clear detail on how speed and accuracy were measured. Without those, twice as fast is a headline number, not a firm one.
Mimi
And that's the likely next step: replication with larger groups of crows.
Der Puls
- Two crows outpaced humans and monkeys on a classic visual decision test, a result that unsettles assumptions about who is quick to judge.
- Headlines from ScienceAlert, Smithsonian, Phys.org and DongA Science spread the claim of roughly double the speed faster than the details could follow.
- The sample of just two birds, with unclear stimuli and unexplained speed-versus-accuracy trade-offs, leaves the comparison open to doubt.
- Researchers point to a shared decision calculation in crows, flies and monkeys despite missing neocortex in two of them, a finding that pushes the search for a common mechanism toward replication with more birds and tasks.
In a small study now echoing through several science outlets, two crows were given a classic test of visual decision-making and reached their choices roughly twice as fast as humans and monkeys. Its larger meaning is less about avian speed than about anatomy: the same underlying calculation appears to run in crows and flies, which lack the layered neocortex that primates rely on, suggesting that the machinery for weighing what we see may be older and more widely shared than the brains we usually study. As with any finding built on two individuals, the claim will be measured by whether others can reproduce it.
Two crows sat at the center of a study that has drawn attention from ScienceAlert, Smithsonian Magazine, Phys.org and DongA Science, all pointing to the same striking result: when making a choice based on what they see, the crows were roughly twice as fast as humans and monkeys.
The experiment used a well-established psychology test of visual decision-making, a task long used to measure how quickly and accurately a brain turns sight into choice. According to the reports, the two birds performed it with decisions arriving at about double the human speed.
The number of birds is the first thing to hold in mind. Two crows is a very small group, and the available coverage does not explain the test setup, the stimuli shown, or how speed was balanced against accuracy. What is clear is the direction of the result and its rough size.
The deeper thread concerns anatomy. DongA Science framed the work as showing that crow, fly and monkey brains carry out the same decision calculation, even though crows and flies lack the neocortex that primates depend on for much of their higher processing. If such different brains reach the same underlying calculation, the mechanism for weighing visual evidence may be shared across very distant species rather than tied to one structure.
The source material is thin. It does not name the researchers, the institution, or the journal, and it offers no precise timings. Those gaps matter, since a claim about twice the speed depends entirely on how the comparison was built.
The natural next step is replication: more crows, more kinds of decisions, and closer scrutiny of the shared calculation across species.
Two crows sat at the center of a study that has drawn headlines from ScienceAlert, Smithsonian Magazine, Phys.org and DongA Science, all pointing to the same finding: when it comes to making a decision based on what they see, crows are roughly twice as fast as humans and monkeys.
The experiment used a classic psychology test of visual decision-making, the kind of task long used to measure how quickly and accurately a brain can turn something seen into a choice. Two crows completed it. According to the headlines, their performance left human results behind, with decisions arriving at about double the speed.
The number of birds matters. Two crows is a very small sample, and the coverage available here does not describe how the test was set up, which stimuli the birds saw, or how speed was weighed against accuracy. What the reports do establish is the direction of the result and its rough size: about twice as fast as people, and as fast as monkeys.
The second part of the story is about anatomy. A Korean outlet, DongA Science, framed the work as a finding that crow, fly and monkey brains perform the same decision calculation, even though crows and flies lack a neocortex, the layered outer region that primates rely on for much of their higher processing. Humans and monkeys have one. Crows do not have it in the same form, and flies have nothing like it at all.
That is why the study is being read as more than a curiosity about clever birds. If animals with such different brain architecture arrive at the same underlying calculation, the researchers' reading, as reported, is that the mechanism for weighing visual evidence is shared across very distant species rather than being tied to one brain structure.
The source material is thin on detail beyond that. It does not name the researchers or the institution, and it does not say where the study was published or give the precise speed measurements. Those gaps are worth keeping in view, because a claim about twice the speed rests on how the comparison was built, and that is not visible in the headlines.
The natural next step is replication. Testing more crows, and more kinds of decision tasks, would show whether the speed advantage holds across birds generally or reflects something about these two individuals, and whether the shared calculation across species survives closer scrutiny.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
Crow, fly and monkey brains perform the same decision calculation without a neocortex.— DongA Science headline, paraphrasing the study's reported finding
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