科研之友
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摘要
New evidence of functional analogies and homologies of bird and mammal brain is given; some nomenclature revision of the most important brain structures is performed. Comparative characteristics of the bird brain and criteria of its progressive development in phylogeny are considered. The possibility to use the Portman's index as an indicator of brain complexity in different species is analyzed. The necessity to study new model bird species with the "medium" (Parus caeruleus and Loxia curvirostra) and "lowest" (Larus glaucescens) levels of brain complexity is substantiated to maintain a fully-based ground for comparing the cognitive abilities of birds. A review of the experimentally supported proofs suggesting the existence of elementary thinking and some other cognitive functions among higher birds is presented. The high levels of cognitive processes that underlie the tool-using of birds, as well as their similarity in anthropoids are shown based on the results obtained in the 2000s. The comparative studies with battery of string-pulling tests confirm the ability of hooded crows and ravens to solve the tool-use tasks immediately, while birds with a "medium" level of brain complexity appear to resort to a simpler mechanism to make success. In the birds of different orders with the "highest" brain complexity (for instance, corvids and parrots), the dynamics of abstract concept-formation are similar. The "medium-level" crossbills, although they can also form the same concepts, perform this process worse than corvids do, whereas the "lowest-level" seagulls and pigeons are not able to operate any abstractions or capable of solving other cognitive tests. The fact that corvids and parrots and anthropoids have similar abilities to successfully solve numerous cognitive tasks supports the hypothesis of the convergent evolution of brain and cognition in birds and primates.
- 出版日期2011-7
