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By Markus Boeckle and Nicola S. Clayton
The human brain stores memories of past events to guide decision-making about current and future events. Re- searchers long assumed that animals do not use memories in this way but rather exist in a constant stream of
present needs, unable to plan for the future
(1). Studies on nonhuman primates and cor-
vids challenge this view and show that some
species can plan for the future at least as well
as 4-year old children (2, 3). These results
suggest that planning for the future is not
uniquely human and evolved independently
in distantly related species to address com-
mon problems (4). On page 202 of this issue,
Kabadayi and Osvath (5) show that ravens
anticipate the nature, time, and location of a
future event based on previous experiences.
The ravens’ behavior is not merely prospec-
tive, anticipating future states (6); rather,
they flexibly apply future planning in behav-
iors not typically seen in the wild.
Although some corvids make and use
tools as part of their ecological predisposition, ravens are considered a non–
tool-using corvid and are not known for trading
items for food. However, they are known to
cache food in nature and can use tools in
experiments (see the photos). In their study,
Kabadayi and Osvath test ravens’ abilities
to plan for future tool use and trading,
rather than for food caching (a behavior
that might be considered as an adaptive
specialization to gather food in order to
eat it at a future date). They thus provide
compelling evidence against the argument
Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge,
Cambridge, UK. Email: markus.boeckle@gmail.com;
nsc22@cam.ac.uk
INSIGHTS
PERSPECTIVES
COGNITION
A raven’s memories are for the future
Ravens can plan for expected future events based on past experiences
