Is it only humans that count from left to right?

Area of Science:

• Comparative psychology
• Avian cognition
• Spatial cognition

Background:

• Ordinal position tasks are crucial for understanding numerical cognition.
• Investigating spatial biases in non-human animals offers insights into the evolution of cognitive abilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate ordinal position biases in nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana) and domestic chicks (Gallus gallus).
• To explore potential parallels between avian spatial biases and the human left-to-right number line.

Main Methods:

• Birds were trained to identify specific elements (4th or 6th) in a series of 16 identical positions.
• The series was presented sagittally and then rotated frontoparallel (90 degrees) for testing.

Main Results:

• Both nutcrackers and chicks demonstrated a leftward bias when locating the target position.
• This bias was evident when identifying the correct position from the left end but not the right end.

Conclusions:

• Avian species show a leftward bias in ordinal position tasks, suggesting a shared cognitive mechanism with humans.
• This finding contributes to understanding the evolution of spatial-numerical associations.