Birdbrain has long been a colloquial term of ridicule. The common notion is that birds' brains are simple, or so scientists thought and taught for many years. But that notion has increasingly been called into question as crows and parrots, among other birds, have shown what appears to be behavior as intelligent as that of chimpanzees.
The clash of simple brain and complex behavior has led some neuroscientists to create a new map of the avian brain.
Today, in the journal Nature Neuroscience Reviews, an international group of avian experts is issuing what amounts to a manifesto. Nearly everything written in anatomy textbooks about the brains of birds is wrong, they say. The avian brain is as complex, flexible and inventive as any mammalian brain, they argue, and it is time to adopt a more accurate nomenclature that reflects a new understanding of the anatomies of bird and mammal brains.
"Names have a powerful influence on the experiments we do and the way we think," said Dr. Erich D. Jarvis, a neuroscientist at Duke University and a leader of the Avian Brain Nomenclature Consortium. "Old terminology has hindered scientific progress."
The consortium of 29 scientists from six countries met for seven years to develop new, more accurate names for structures in both avian and mammalian brains. For example, the bird's seat of intelligence or its higher brain is now termed the pallium.
"The correction of terms is a great advance," said Dr. Jon Kaas, a leading expert in neuroanatomy at Vanderbilt University in Nashville who did not participate in the consortium. "It's hard to get scientists to agree about anything."
Scientists have come to agree that birds are indeed smart, but those who study avian intelligence differ on how birds got that way. Experts, including those in the consortium, are split into two warring camps. One holds that birds' brains make the same kinds of internal connections as do mammalian brains and that intelligence in both groups arises from these connections. The other holds that bird intelligence evolved through expanding an old part of the mammal brain and using it in new ways, and it questions how developed that intelligence is.
人們通常認(rèn)為鳥類大腦簡單，科學(xué)家們很多年來也是這么認(rèn)為和這么教人的。但當(dāng)烏鴉和鸚鵡，包括其它鳥類的行為表明它們和黑猩猩一樣聰明時，這種觀念就不斷受到質(zhì)疑。
據(jù)最新一期的《自然神經(jīng)科學(xué)評論》報道，一個鳥類專家國際小組宣布說，有關(guān)鳥類大腦的解剖學(xué)教科書里所寫的幾乎都是錯誤的。專家說，鳥類的大腦和任何哺乳動物的大腦一樣，是復(fù)雜、靈活、具有創(chuàng)造性的。
烏鴉不僅會用小樹枝的鉤鉤叉叉來覓食，有些還學(xué)會了把胡桃銜到公路上，讓過往的汽車把胡桃碾碎，然后享用胡桃仁。
非洲灰鸚鵡不僅會說話，還有點(diǎn)幽默感。據(jù)一些研究人員說，鸚鵡能與人交流，它們還會發(fā)明詞匯，并能把自己知道的東西教給其它鸚鵡。研究人員說，一只名叫亞歷克斯的非洲灰鸚鵡能知道一些數(shù)字和顏色的概念，并能像嬰兒那樣捕捉到人們談話里的字母。
鴿子能記住725種不同的圖案，并且會使“詭計”。它們會假裝在一個地方找到了食物，等把別的鳥吸引過去之后，它們自己卻偷偷摸摸地回到真正的食物源，獨(dú)享美味。
這些來自6個國家的29位鳥類學(xué)家研究了7年后，提出了一套新的、更準(zhǔn)確的鳥類和哺乳動物大腦各種組織結(jié)構(gòu)的名稱。例如，鳥類大腦智力的中心部位現(xiàn)在被定名為大腦皮層。美國杜克大學(xué)的神經(jīng)學(xué)家、鳥類大腦命名法協(xié)會的負(fù)責(zé)人埃里希·賈維斯博士說：“名稱對于我們所做的實驗和我們思考的方式有很大的影響。陳舊的術(shù)語阻礙了科學(xué)的進(jìn)步?！?BR> 科學(xué)家們現(xiàn)在達(dá)成了這樣的共識：鳥類的確是聰明的，但是那些研究鳥類智力的科學(xué)家們對于鳥類如何變得這樣聰明有不同看法。鳥類學(xué)專家們——包括鳥類大腦命名法協(xié)會里的科學(xué)家——甚至分成了兩個對立的陣營。一方堅持認(rèn)為：鳥類大腦內(nèi)部聯(lián)系的方式和哺乳動物大腦一樣，而鳥類和哺乳動物的智力都來自這種大腦內(nèi)部的聯(lián)系；另一方認(rèn)為，鳥類大腦里智力的來源和哺乳動物是不同的，但他們尚不清楚鳥類的智力是如何發(fā)展的。
The clash of simple brain and complex behavior has led some neuroscientists to create a new map of the avian brain.
Today, in the journal Nature Neuroscience Reviews, an international group of avian experts is issuing what amounts to a manifesto. Nearly everything written in anatomy textbooks about the brains of birds is wrong, they say. The avian brain is as complex, flexible and inventive as any mammalian brain, they argue, and it is time to adopt a more accurate nomenclature that reflects a new understanding of the anatomies of bird and mammal brains.
"Names have a powerful influence on the experiments we do and the way we think," said Dr. Erich D. Jarvis, a neuroscientist at Duke University and a leader of the Avian Brain Nomenclature Consortium. "Old terminology has hindered scientific progress."
The consortium of 29 scientists from six countries met for seven years to develop new, more accurate names for structures in both avian and mammalian brains. For example, the bird's seat of intelligence or its higher brain is now termed the pallium.
"The correction of terms is a great advance," said Dr. Jon Kaas, a leading expert in neuroanatomy at Vanderbilt University in Nashville who did not participate in the consortium. "It's hard to get scientists to agree about anything."
Scientists have come to agree that birds are indeed smart, but those who study avian intelligence differ on how birds got that way. Experts, including those in the consortium, are split into two warring camps. One holds that birds' brains make the same kinds of internal connections as do mammalian brains and that intelligence in both groups arises from these connections. The other holds that bird intelligence evolved through expanding an old part of the mammal brain and using it in new ways, and it questions how developed that intelligence is.
人們通常認(rèn)為鳥類大腦簡單，科學(xué)家們很多年來也是這么認(rèn)為和這么教人的。但當(dāng)烏鴉和鸚鵡，包括其它鳥類的行為表明它們和黑猩猩一樣聰明時，這種觀念就不斷受到質(zhì)疑。
據(jù)最新一期的《自然神經(jīng)科學(xué)評論》報道，一個鳥類專家國際小組宣布說，有關(guān)鳥類大腦的解剖學(xué)教科書里所寫的幾乎都是錯誤的。專家說，鳥類的大腦和任何哺乳動物的大腦一樣，是復(fù)雜、靈活、具有創(chuàng)造性的。
烏鴉不僅會用小樹枝的鉤鉤叉叉來覓食，有些還學(xué)會了把胡桃銜到公路上，讓過往的汽車把胡桃碾碎，然后享用胡桃仁。
非洲灰鸚鵡不僅會說話，還有點(diǎn)幽默感。據(jù)一些研究人員說，鸚鵡能與人交流，它們還會發(fā)明詞匯，并能把自己知道的東西教給其它鸚鵡。研究人員說，一只名叫亞歷克斯的非洲灰鸚鵡能知道一些數(shù)字和顏色的概念，并能像嬰兒那樣捕捉到人們談話里的字母。
鴿子能記住725種不同的圖案，并且會使“詭計”。它們會假裝在一個地方找到了食物，等把別的鳥吸引過去之后，它們自己卻偷偷摸摸地回到真正的食物源，獨(dú)享美味。
這些來自6個國家的29位鳥類學(xué)家研究了7年后，提出了一套新的、更準(zhǔn)確的鳥類和哺乳動物大腦各種組織結(jié)構(gòu)的名稱。例如，鳥類大腦智力的中心部位現(xiàn)在被定名為大腦皮層。美國杜克大學(xué)的神經(jīng)學(xué)家、鳥類大腦命名法協(xié)會的負(fù)責(zé)人埃里希·賈維斯博士說：“名稱對于我們所做的實驗和我們思考的方式有很大的影響。陳舊的術(shù)語阻礙了科學(xué)的進(jìn)步?！?BR> 科學(xué)家們現(xiàn)在達(dá)成了這樣的共識：鳥類的確是聰明的，但是那些研究鳥類智力的科學(xué)家們對于鳥類如何變得這樣聰明有不同看法。鳥類學(xué)專家們——包括鳥類大腦命名法協(xié)會里的科學(xué)家——甚至分成了兩個對立的陣營。一方堅持認(rèn)為：鳥類大腦內(nèi)部聯(lián)系的方式和哺乳動物大腦一樣，而鳥類和哺乳動物的智力都來自這種大腦內(nèi)部的聯(lián)系；另一方認(rèn)為，鳥類大腦里智力的來源和哺乳動物是不同的，但他們尚不清楚鳥類的智力是如何發(fā)展的。