西班牙瓦拉多利大学社会性和认知研究博士课程奖学金

A four-year funded PhD studentship is available at the University of Valladolid to investigate the relationship between sociality and cognition in carrion crows. Recent investigation on different corvid species has revealed surprisingly advanced cognitive abilities that sometimes rival those of non-human primates. In some species the individuals proved to possess the theory of mind, that is the ability of attribute mental states and intentions to other individuals, and to modify their own behaviour according to the intentions attributed to others. Sociality is though to be a key factor promoting the evolution of intelligence, which appears to be more advanced in species that live in stable groups. However, the adaptive function of intelligence in these species is not yet clear, as it is not fully known how these cognitive abilities are used in nature, what kind of problems they contribute to solve, and how they influence individual decisions in a changing social environment.