Mechanical problem solving in Goffin's cockatoos -- Towards modeling complex behavior

TL;DR

This study investigates how Goffin's cockatoos learn to solve a mechanical lockbox puzzle by analyzing their engagement, sensorimotor learning, and action selection, proposing a coarse modeling approach for understanding complex animal behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a combined analysis of multiple behavioral aspects and advocates for a coarse modeling approach to understand complex problem solving in animals.

Findings

Behavior involves interaction of environment and multiple processes.

No single aspect explains behavioral adaptation alone.

Supports coarse modeling before detailed mechanistic models.

Abstract

Research continues to accumulate evidence that Goffin's cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana) can solve wide sets of mechanical problems, such as tool use, tool manufacture, and solving mechanical puzzles. However, the proximate mechanisms underlying this adaptive behavior are largely unknown. In this study, we analyze how three Goffin's cockatoos learn to solve a specific mechanical puzzle, a lockbox. The observed behavior results from the interaction between a complex environment (the lockbox) and different processes that jointly govern the animals' behavior. We thus jointly analyze the parrots' (1) engagement, (2) sensorimotor skill learning, and (3) action selection. We find that neither of these aspects could solely explain the animals' behavioral adaptation and that a plausible model of proximate mechanisms (including adaptation) should thus also jointly address these aspects. We accompany this analysis with a discussion of methods that may be used to identify such mechanisms. A major point we want to make is, that it is implausible to reliably identify a detailed model from the limited data of one or a few studies. Instead, we advocate for a more coarse approach that first establishes constraints on proximate mechanisms before specific, detailed models are formulated. We exercise this idea on the data we present in this study.