That’s a reasonable design. The result would be interesting and may raise more questions than it answers. That is a good thing.
I don’t think this design would conclusively prove they were engaging in abstract communication, but that would take many experiments of similar scope.
A sceptic could say the unconditioned group reaction was a result of social awareness of the reaction of the conditioned crows. Sort of a collective freak out based on the immediate reaction of the marked individuals.
Regardless, I hereby tender my application to be colony manager of the research group. Murder Manager is the title I would choose.
Maybe you could instead make it a puzzle type of thing, like “you have a set of 4 buttons, only 1 gives you a treat, and the crow can only choose 1 button”. Then see what happens
That’s a reasonable design. The result would be interesting and may raise more questions than it answers. That is a good thing.
I don’t think this design would conclusively prove they were engaging in abstract communication, but that would take many experiments of similar scope.
A sceptic could say the unconditioned group reaction was a result of social awareness of the reaction of the conditioned crows. Sort of a collective freak out based on the immediate reaction of the marked individuals.
Regardless, I hereby tender my application to be colony manager of the research group. Murder Manager is the title I would choose.
Maybe you could instead make it a puzzle type of thing, like “you have a set of 4 buttons, only 1 gives you a treat, and the crow can only choose 1 button”. Then see what happens