Here are some other references regarding spatial memory in birds. Squirrels do indeed remember where they stored food as do birds such as chickadees. If you lesion the hippocampus of chickadees prior to a food-storing episode, they are unable to recall the stored locations. It is believed that they are impaired in spatial memory - that is, they remember where they placed their food-caches based on the spatial representation of the environment. Birds begin to store caches after physiological changes in the body (increase in body fat). I believe that there is someone at UC Davis (not Nikki Clayton) that examines spatial learning in squirrels.
Sherry and Schacter (1987). The evolution of multiple memory systems. Psychological Review, 94, 439-454. Sherry and Vaccarino (1989). Hippocampus and memory for food caches in black-capped chickadees. Behav. Neuroscience, 103: 308-318. Clayton and Krebs (1994). Memory for spatial and object-specific cues in food-storing and non-storing birds. J. Comp Physiol, 174, 371-379. Cheri ----- Original Message ----- From: "Patrick O. Dolan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 2:29 PM Subject: Re: Student's question > Not sure what you mean by sense of the future, but you may be able to > explain squirrel behavior without assuming they have some complex sense of > the past and future. However, Nicole Clayton has suggested that birds > display episodic-like memory because they not only remember the spatial > location of previously stored food, but are also sensitive to temporal > factors, as if they remember "when" they were stored and know whether or not > the perishable larvae are still good and worth digging up. See Clayton, N. > S. & Dickinson, A. (1998). Episodic-like memory during cache recovery by > scrub jays. Nature, 395, 272-273. Neat stuff. > > Patrick > > ******************** > Patrick O. Dolan > Department of Psychology > Drew University > Madison, NJ 07940 > 973-408-3558 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ******************** > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Michael Sylvester" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 1:31 PM > Subject: Student's question > > > > > > do squirrels have a sense of the future since they can store nuts > > at the base of certain trees and return the following day to retrieve > > them? > > > > Michael Sylvester,PhD > > Daytona Beach,Florida > > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
