The RUB news portal reports:

Jackdaws improve their memory performance by classifying continuous stimuli into categories. The so-called attractor dynamics opens up new insights into the functioning of the brain.

Working memory is crucial for higher cognitive functions both in primates – which include humans – and in corvids. In their studies using two jackdaws, researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum have now discovered remarkable parallels in the memory optimization of primates and corvids. They suggest that the ability to divide continuous impressions into categories plays a key role in the optimization of working memory. The results were published on November 6, 2023 in the journal “Communications Biology”.

Full article at the RUB (German): >>

Scientific paper: >>