▲ 62 ▼ Crows can evaluate visual info twice as fast as mammals (arstechnica.com) submitted 3 days ago by cm0002@lemy.lol to c/corvids@sopuli.xyz 6 comments fedilink hide all child comments
[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago (2 children) Makes sense. I mean they do fly. permalink fedilink source hideshow 2 child comments replies: [–] kxohodek@thelemmy.club 9 points 3 days ago* (1 child) From the article: Flight imposes strict weight limits, so birds pack enormous numbers of very small neurons into very small brains. Their axons, the long cable-like fibers that transmit electrical and chemical signals between cells, are shorter. “Long lines take time. Short lines speed everything up,” Nieder said. My first speculation after reading your comment was that because they fly, they would have to process far more visual stimuli and other sensory inputs (aerodynamics) within a certain time frame compared to mammals most of which are mainly terrestrial. Probably a silly thought, maybe not, I have no idea if this is paralleled in flightless or aquatic birds (if that's been studied). permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 1 child comment replies: [–] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 3 points 3 days ago Flight imposes strict weight limits, so birds pack enormous numbers of very small neurons into very small brains. Their axons, the long cable-like fibers that transmit electrical and chemical signals between cells, are shorter. “Long lines take time. Short lines speed everything up,” Nieder said. I've read about this elsewhere, too. It's really fascinating how corvid brains are packed and constructed, part of why they outperform the usual heuristic of brain mass to bodyweight ratio for estimating intelligence. permalink fedilink source parent
[–] kxohodek@thelemmy.club 9 points 3 days ago* (1 child) From the article: Flight imposes strict weight limits, so birds pack enormous numbers of very small neurons into very small brains. Their axons, the long cable-like fibers that transmit electrical and chemical signals between cells, are shorter. “Long lines take time. Short lines speed everything up,” Nieder said. My first speculation after reading your comment was that because they fly, they would have to process far more visual stimuli and other sensory inputs (aerodynamics) within a certain time frame compared to mammals most of which are mainly terrestrial. Probably a silly thought, maybe not, I have no idea if this is paralleled in flightless or aquatic birds (if that's been studied). permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 1 child comment replies: [–] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 3 points 3 days ago Flight imposes strict weight limits, so birds pack enormous numbers of very small neurons into very small brains. Their axons, the long cable-like fibers that transmit electrical and chemical signals between cells, are shorter. “Long lines take time. Short lines speed everything up,” Nieder said. I've read about this elsewhere, too. It's really fascinating how corvid brains are packed and constructed, part of why they outperform the usual heuristic of brain mass to bodyweight ratio for estimating intelligence. permalink fedilink source parent
[–] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 3 points 3 days ago Flight imposes strict weight limits, so birds pack enormous numbers of very small neurons into very small brains. Their axons, the long cable-like fibers that transmit electrical and chemical signals between cells, are shorter. “Long lines take time. Short lines speed everything up,” Nieder said. I've read about this elsewhere, too. It's really fascinating how corvid brains are packed and constructed, part of why they outperform the usual heuristic of brain mass to bodyweight ratio for estimating intelligence. permalink fedilink source parent