Sensitivity to permanent non-functionality in Goffin’s cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana)

Abstract

Abstract While the ability to recognize that something is irreparably broken is important for human physical and social cognition, its underpinnings remain largely unexplored in non-human animals. Recognizing the permanent loss of function is highly relevant to foraging on perishable resources and to interacting with breakable objects such as wooden tools. Nevertheless, learning how to respond to such permanent non-functionality has broader implications, as it has been proposed to represent an important prerequisite for the development of a minimal concept of death. The Goffin’s cockatoo, an opportunistic extractive forager and skilled tool user both in the field and in captivity, has become a significant non-primate model for technical cognition and problem solving. Here, we investigate whether Goffin’s cockatoos can develop sensitivity to perishable touchscreen icons. In this set-up, the parrots flexibly and spontaneously categorized specific interactive elements as persistently non-functional after associating them with a single negative event.