The importance of animal intelligence was reinforced by a test last year.
The results of the new version of the test seemed to show that there was more going on in the brains of theuttlefish.
The researchers said that cuttlefish's ability to learn and adapt could have given them an advantage.
The test is easy to understand.
There is a child in a room. If they can't eat the marshmallows for 15 minutes, they'll get a second one and be able to eat both.
At what age a human is smart enough to delay gratification if it means a better outcome later, this ability to delay gratification shows cognitive abilities such as future planning.
It can be adjusted for animals because of its simplicity. It's not possible to tell an animal that they'll get a better reward if they wait, but you can teach them that if they don't eat the food in front of them immediately, they'll get better food.
Dogs and some primate can be inconsistent in their delayed gratification. The marshmallows have been passed by corvids.
Cuttlefish passed a version of the test. Common cuttlefish can't eat crab meat in the morning if they know dinner will be shrimp, according to scientists.
It was difficult to determine if the change in behavior was being governed by an ability to exert self-control, as a team of researchers pointed out.
Six common cuttlefish were tested. The cuttlefish were placed in a tank with transparent doors that let the animals in. There were snacks in the chambers, one of which was a piece of raw king prawn.
There were symbols on the doors that the cuttlefish had been trained to recognize. The door would open immediately. The door would open after a time period between 10 and 130 seconds. The door remained closed indefinitely because of a square.
The live shrimp was only accessible after a delay, while the prawn was put behind the open door. The shrimp was taken away if the cuttlefish went for the prawn.
Behind the square-symbol door that wouldn't open, the shrimp couldn't be found.
All of the cuttlefish in the test condition decided to wait for their preferred food, but didn't bother to do so in the control group, where they couldn't get it.
"Cuttlefish were all able to wait for the better reward and tolerate delays for up to 50-130 seconds, which is1-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-6556
The six cuttlefish were tested to see how well they learned. A grey square and a white one were displayed to them.
If they chose the correct choice, they would be rewarded with a snack.
The researchers switched the cue when they learned to associate a square with a reward.
The cuttlefish that learned to adapt the fastest were the ones that were able to wait longer.
Cuttlefish can exert self control, but what is it that makes them do that?
Delayed gratification is linked to factors such as tool use, food caching, and social competence in parrots, primate, and corvids.
Cuttlefish do not use tools or cache food, nor are they particularly social. The ability to delay gratification may be related to the way cuttlefish eat.
Theuttlefish spend most of their time camouflaging, sitting and waiting.
They are exposed to every predator in the ocean when they break their camouflage. Delayed gratification may have evolved as a result of this, so the cuttlefish can maximize their ability to find food.
It's a fascinating example of how different lifestyles can result in the same behaviors.
Future research should try to find out if cuttlefish can plan for the future.
The research was published in a peer-reviewed journal.
The first version of this article was published in March of 2011.
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