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Episodic-like memory during cache recovery by scrub jays

Author

Listed:
  • Nicola S. Clayton

    (Section of Neurobiology, Physiology & Behaviour, University of California at Davis)

  • Anthony Dickinson

    (University of Cambridge)

Abstract

The recollection of past experiences allows us to recall what a particular event was, and where and when it occurred1,2, a form of memory that is thought to be unique to humans3. It is known, however, that food-storing birds remember the spatial location4,5,6 and contents6,7,8,9 of their caches. Furthermore, food-storing animals adapt their caching and recovery strategies to the perishability of food stores10,11,12,13, which suggests that they are sensitive to temporal factors. Here we show that scrub jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens) remember ‘when’ food items are stored by allowing them to recover perishable ‘wax worms’ (wax-moth larvae) and non-perishable peanuts which they had previously cached in visuospatially distinct sites. Jays searched preferentially for fresh wax worms, their favoured food, when allowed to recover them shortly after caching. However, they rapidly learned to avoid searching for worms after a longer interval during which the worms had decayed. The recovery preference of jays demonstrates memory of where and when particular food items were cached, thereby fulfilling the behavioural criteria for episodic-like memory in non-human animals.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicola S. Clayton & Anthony Dickinson, 1998. "Episodic-like memory during cache recovery by scrub jays," Nature, Nature, vol. 395(6699), pages 272-274, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:395:y:1998:i:6699:d:10.1038_26216
    DOI: 10.1038/26216
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    Cited by:

    1. Marusha Dekleva & Valérie Dufour & Han de Vries & Berry M Spruijt & Elisabeth H M Sterck, 2011. "Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Fail a What-Where-When Task but Find Rewards by Using a Location-Based Association Strategy," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(2), pages 1-11, February.
    2. Rana, Sourav & Bhattacharya, Sabyasachi & Pal, Joydeep & N’Guérékata, Gaston M. & Chattopadhyay, Joydev, 2013. "Paradox of enrichment: A fractional differential approach with memory," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 392(17), pages 3610-3621.
    3. Johanni Brea & Nicola S. Clayton & Wulfram Gerstner, 2023. "Computational models of episodic-like memory in food-caching birds," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    4. P. Dylan Rich & Stephan Yves Thiberge & Benjamin B. Scott & Caiying Guo & D. Gowanlock R. Tervo & Carlos D. Brody & Alla Y. Karpova & Nathaniel D. Daw & David W. Tank, 2024. "Magnetic voluntary head-fixation in transgenic rats enables lifespan imaging of hippocampal neurons," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.

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