Clever Corvids: vs. two-year olds (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, December 13, 2014, 18:53 (3633 days ago) @ David Turell

The kids win:-http://www.wsj.com/articles/who-wins-when-smart-crows-and-kids-match-wits-1418230699?KEYWORDS=Alison+Gopnik-Here was the question: Would the crows or the children be able to use this accidental event to design a new action? Could they imagine how to procure the treat on purpose, even though they had never done it before? If they just saw the block sitting on the table, would they pick it up and put it in the machine?-Despite their tool-using brilliance, the crows never got it—even after a hundred trials. They could learn to pick up the block and put it into the box through conditioning—that is, if they were rewarded for each step of the process—but not spontaneously. In contrast, most of the 2-year-olds learned from the accident. They could imagine how to get the marble, and could immediately pick up the block and put it in the box.-The crows have a deep understanding of how physical objects work, and they are very clever at using that knowledge to accomplish their goals. But the children seem to be better at noticing the novel, the accidental and the serendipitous and at using that experience to imagine new opportunities. It may be that same ability which lets us humans fashion ancient mountains and lakes into magical new worlds.