Crows make decisions twice as fast as humans and monkeys

Key Points:

• Researchers at the University of Tübingen found that crows make visual decisions twice as fast as humans and monkeys, with two carrion crows identifying motion direction in just 235 milliseconds on average while maintaining high accuracy.
• The study, published in Science, involved crows determining the direction of moving dots on a touchscreen and indicated their choice by pecking, achieving nearly 100% accuracy with clear signals.
• Neural recordings showed that signals in the nidopallium caudolaterale, a brain region comparable to the human prefrontal cortex, diverged as early as 70 milliseconds after stimulus onset, reflecting decision formation processes.
• Despite different brain structures, crows exhibit neuronal dynamics consistent with decision-making models in primates, suggesting convergent evolution of rapid visual processing and motor response mechanisms.
• The researchers propose that the crows' speed advantage relates to evolutionary demands for quick visual and motor responses during flight and foraging, with further studies needed to clarify the underlying mechanisms.