BIRDS AND INTELLIGENCE
This broad concept is vaguely defined, but can include learning ability, problem-solving, abstract thinking, and computational cognitive capacity.
What is intelligence?
These folds in mammalian brains increase surface area and allow more neurons to fit into the same volume.
What are gyri and sulci?
This principle favors the simplest explanation and is used when interpreting behavior without assuming unnecessary complexity.
This phenomenon, named after a famous horse, raises the question of whether apparent problem-solving may actually be reading human body language.
What is the Clever Hans effect?
Compared to mammals, birds achieve similar or greater computational power (per unit) primarily by having more of these per unit brain mass.
What are neurons?
This evolutionary concept explains why some ancient species, like horseshoe crabs, remain largely unchanged over time.
What is evolutionary stability (or a stable evolutionary solution)?
This cognitive ability is demonstrated when an animal recognizes a mark on its own body using a mirror, as seen in magpies.
What is theory of mind (or self-recognition)?
This bird brain structure is functionally equivalent to the mammalian neocortex and contains a higher neuron density.
What is the pallium?
What are two biological assumptions about extraterrestrial life?
What is 1) no energy beings and 2) assumed to be made of standard matter from the periodic table.
The ability to distinguish “more vs. less” without counting, demonstrated even by newborn chicks, is known by this term.
What is numerosity?
Unlike mammals’ six-layered neocortex, songbird brains are organized into these functional units.
What are nuclei?
According to one compelling solution to the Fermi Paradox, the main barrier to contact is this physical constraint.
What is the speed of light (making interstellar travel impractical)?
This bird species demonstrates episodic-like memory by remembering what, where, and when, effectively “telling time.”
What are scrub jays?
Gene-expression studies show that although bird and mammal brains look different, they share similar cell types and connectivity, which suggests this key conclusion:
What is the idea that brain circuits can be functionally equivalent despite different structures?
Roughly how much continuous power does the human brain require, and what does this energy demand imply about the evolutionary likelihood and environmental constraints of intelligent extraterrestrial life?
What is about 20 watts, implying that intelligence is energetically expensive, requires stable, energy-rich environments, and is therefore unlikely to be common or easily evolved in extraterrestrial species?