September 26, 2017
The density of nerve cells in the
human cerebral cortex is six times smaller than in the respective brain region
in pigeons. Consequently, the average distance between two neurons in pigeons
is only approximately half the size compared to …more
Pigeons are capable of switching
between two tasks as quickly as humans – and even more quickly in certain
situations. These are the findings of biopsychologists who had performed the
same behavioural experiments to test birds and humans. The authors hypothesize
that the cause of the slight multitasking advantage in birds is their higher
neuronal density.
Dr Sara Letzner and Prof Dr Dr h.
c. Onur Güntürkün from Ruhr-Universität Bochum published the results in the
journal Current Biology in collaboration with Prof Dr Christian Beste
from the University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus at Technische Universität
Dresden.
"For a long time, scientists
used to believe the mammalian cerebral cortex to be the anatomical cause of
cognitive ability; it is made up of six cortical layers," says Sara
Letzner. In birds,
however, such a structure does not exist. "That means the structure of the
mammalian cortex cannot be decisive for complex cognitive functions such as
multitasking," continues Letzner.
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