More Evidence That Ravens Are Ridiculously Intelligent Birds. New research shows that ravens can plan ahead for different types of events, and even resist the urge to take an immediate reward in favor of getting a better one in the future. These capacities are often considered the exclusive domain of humans and great apes, so their presence in birds comes as a surprise. The study, published today in Science, shows that ravens (Corvus corax) can anticipate the nature, time, and location of future events based on prior experiences. This is an important finding, and not just because of what it tells us about certain birds and how freakishly smart they are.
It also tells us that ravens and great apes—animals who diverged from a common ancestor over 3. Animals that can’t plan ahead live in the moment, and act in accordance to immediate needs. Their lives are a flow of action and reaction, making it difficult, if not impossible, to think complex scenarios through. Animals that can anticipate the future, on the other hand, can use or build tools to perform a task, engage in bartering behaviors, and exert self- control.
In previousexperiments, great apes have demonstrated these capacities, but monkeys have not. Corvids, a family of birds that includes ravens, have also demonstrated the ability to anticipate the future, but only in simple experiments involving the caching of food. In an effort to learn more about raven intelligence, researchers Can Kabadayi and Mathias Osvath from the Department of Cognitive Science at Lund University conducted a series of experiments in which five ravens (two male, three female) were put through four different tests. These experiments were done to see if ravens could use their bird brains to complete tasks they wouldn’t normally have to perform in the wild, namely using tools and bartering with humans. The tests were also done to see if ravens could make decisions for an event 1.
Finally, the researchers sought to test the birds’ self- control when making decisions for the future. Once trained, the ravens were then presented with the puzzle box—but no tool.
The box was then removed, and an hour later, the ravens were given the choice of selecting the opening tool, and also some “distractor” objects. In experiments involving five birds, nearly every raven ignored the distractor objects, choosing the correct tool—even though the puzzle box was absent. Watch Finding Dory (2016) Movie Stream here. When the ravens were presented with the box 1. Similar results were achieved in the second experiment, in which the birds waited 1. In a corollary to both of these tests, the ravens also showed the ability to select a token which they could later use to barter for a reward, which they did with 7. Fascinatingly, the ravens performed better in the bartering tests than orangutans, bonobos, and chimps, as shown in other studies. These experiments show that ravens can “select, save, and later use either a tool or an exchangeable token that acquired functionality” both 1.
For the third and fourth experiment (again involving short and long time intervals), the ravens were presented with the correct tool, some distractor objects, and—in a delicious twist—an immediate reward. The ravens were allowed to choose just one. Importantly, the immediate reward was not as good as the reward inside the puzzle box, and the ravens knew it. As the researchers report, the ravens selected the tool, demonstrating a level of self- control comparable what’s seen in great apes. Solving problems even if they are not related to the usual daily business is a clear sign of mental flexibility and therefore intelligence.”Nieder was particularly impressed with the amount of cognitive control exhibited by the corvids.
The birds didn’t act hastily, immediately snatching an available food item. Instead, they appeared to inhibit this impulse and wait for an even bigger reward in the future, an ability termed delayed gratification. Furthermore it shows that the animals are not simply choosing the token/tool from a selection of distractor items as they have been previously associated to food.
Another follow up shows that they seem to be able to incorporate the costs of waiting into their decision making process.”Alex Taylor, who studies crow intelligence at the University of Auckland, read the study a bit differently, and says the results are open to interpretation. In past work on ape self control, apes were offered a choice of a small piece of food or a tool to use later and chose the tool. They were then offered this choice a second time, and chose the food, showing that they were not choosing the tool because it was a highly positive object, but because of its use in the future. Once they had a tool, they clearly had no need for another, and so chose the food.”Taylor says this is the key control—divorcing the token from food association—that’s missing from the study.
The ravens may not be thinking about the future at all, and are instead just choosing the object with the strongest association with the food, i. Previous studies have shown that, pound for pound, birds pack more neurons into their tiny brains than mammals, including primates. They even have a brain structure that’s analogous to the mammalian neocortex—the part responsible for higher order functioning like conscious thought, sensory perception, spatial reasoning, and language.
A Thinking Fan's Guide To The NFL Season. The following is excerpted from the team chapters of the always- excellent Football Outsiders Almanac. Buy it here as a PDF, or here in print. AFC North. Baltimore Ravens: The Ravens face a choice. After two years of Marc Trestman’s Dumpoff Fiesta (if you buy the line that offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg was coaching with Trestman’s playbook), it’s clear that the Ravens need to run the ball a lot more to succeed.
Baltimore’s offense ranked seventh in their average lead per drive, yet only two teams had fewer rushing attempts. The only other team with an average lead and rushing total anywhere near Baltimore’s last year was Green Bay, and they A) have the best quarterback in the game and B) had to turn a wide receiver into their starting running back. The Ravens don’t even have the excuse that the rushing game was unproductive, as Terrance West and Kenneth Dixon were each right around the league average in rushing DVOA.
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West was a spectacular reclamation project, and Dixon has true three- down ability if he ever stays on the field for a full season. If their young edge rushers fail, the answer is still Michael Johnson. Pat Sims is still here. Wallace Gilberry is still here.
Reinard Wilson is still here. OK, OK, we made that last one up. But you get the gist: there’s very little upside here unless the Bengals have hit on their draft picks. The stopgap solutions are just the same guys you saw in 2. Most pre- draft speculation had the Browns taking Texas A& M defensive end Myles Garrett with the No.
Then, just days before the draft, rumors began to float that Cleveland might take North Carolina quarterback Mitch Trubisky. Even stranger, the rumors said that the analytics department was pushing Trubisky over Garrett, even though no team with a strong analytical background would gamble on a risky one- year starter.
In the end, the Browns took Garrett, then sat back and watched as Chicago traded up to grab Trubisky. The rest of this paragraph is purely speculation, but it seems likely the Browns knew Chicago was looking to make a deal and were leaking the Trubisky rumors to try to bait the Bears into a mega- package. In the end, they could not get an offer they liked more than Garrett, and stood pat.
This is why Browns management was shown on the draft broadcast congratulating each other after the pick was made—they had done their due diligence in exploring all options with that first pick and chosen the option that best fit their needs. And it was another sign of the new intelligence in Cleveland—while the old Browns might have been happy to make a deal, the new Browns are only interested in the right deal. First- rounder Artie Burns played in all 1. Week 8 bye. His charting numbers were quite poor, but many highly- drafted cornerbacks struggle as rookies and take two, three, or even four seasons to fully develop.
Second- round safety Sean Davis started the last seven games of the regular season and all three playoff games. He showed promising potential as an in- the- box type, though he must improve his tackling. Third- round nose tackle Javon Hargrave outplayed the two men picked before him, starting 1. As a nose tackle, it’s doubtful he’ll ever put up big individual numbers of any kind, but his continued development would solve a lot of problems for a defense that hasn’t finished in the top 1. Siemian exhibited a lot of traits shared by division rival Alex Smith in his careful way of protecting the ball; at least he costs only a small fraction of what Smith makes in Kansas City. Meanwhile, Lynch was more of the deep- throwing, get- on- the- move wild child with questionable accuracy.
We’re not calling him Tebow 2. Lynch’s 2. 4. 7 percent rate of off- target throws (over- or underthrown passes according to ESPN Stats & Info) was the second highest in 2.
With the Chiefs entering Year 5 of Andy Reid/Alex Smith, it is really on Smith to deliver this season. We know Reid isn’t going anywhere after the team signed him to a four- year extension in June. Clearly, there have been limitations within this offense that start at the quarterback position. The Chiefs jumped on the opportunity to trade up with Buffalo for Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes, moving from 2. Going from Smith to an Air Raid quarterback sounds like a huge change, but it’s likely not one we will see until 2. The Chiefs have not won a regular- season game with a quarterback they drafted since September 1. Todd Blackledge), and that streak is all but guaranteed to extend beyond 3. Free Moka (2017) Online.
Depth is of course an issue, but let’s consider the range of talent that this team has put together. As always, we have to start at the quarterback. The fact that Philip Rivers has started every game since 2.
This is the weakness in blaming injuries for Mike Mc. Coy’s ineffective tenure.
Yes, there have been a lot of injuries, but a top player at the most important position remained healthy enough to suit up every single week, and the Chargers still went 2. Stacking 1. 2- win seasons is a very difficult thing to do in this league. Joe Montana, Steve Young, Roger Staubach, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, and Matt Ryan have never stacked together consecutive 1. A team basically has to have Peyton Manning or Tom Brady at quarterback to consistently win 1. Derek Carr is not at that level yet. Last year’s team was rough around the edges despite the record, and the inability to beat Kansas City limited them to a wild- card berth.
Lesser competition also tended to give the Raiders all they could handle. It could work, but it’s more likely to work in the longer term. Rookie quarterbacks being good right away is a hard thing for projection systems to catch on to, and we have no empirical data that points to Watson excelling immediately. We also have a lot of evidence proving that the other teams in this division have gotten better. The Colts finally got rid of their dead- end general manager and stopped fielding an AARP defense. The Jaguars are building a great defense and are only tied to Blake Bortles for one more year.
The Titans are relying a lot on green defenders, but have become a much scarier team on the other side of the ball. These are some of the things that head coach Bill O’Brien may begin to see show up on tape this year, rather than abstract analytical terms. It would take an immediate reconsolidation by a defense that, in many ways, is pieced together on the fly without any continuity. It would take a healthy supporting cast around Luck. It would probably require fourth- round rookie Marlon Mack to show some juice and make hay out of Chuck Pagano’s preferred offensive style. That’s a lot of change necessary for a team that hasn’t changed much at all over the four years since it drafted Luck.
Some of the time, at least. Every offense, no matter how good, ends up in two- minute drills and other obvious passing situations like third- and- long, and Bortles has no choice but to be better there.
And in competitive situations, a Fournette- based offense does not suggest greater success given the makeup of the rest of the Jacksonville roster. With the QB under center, their pass offense DVOA of 7. Jets and Bears ranked. Only Houston and Pittsburgh showed a greater improvement in their pass offense going from under center to shotgun. The Titans want to play as much of the under center “base” offense as possible. Given that, it makes perfect sense that improving the passing game in that preferred look was a high priority.
Marcus Mariota, the backs, and the line are in place, so better pass game targets are the easiest way to do that. With feature receivers in short supply in free agency, the draft became the place to meet that need.
And the Titans complied, adding Western Michigan’s Corey Davis with the fifth overall pick, then Western Kentucky’s Taywan Taylor and tight end Jonnu Smith out of Florida International in the third round. Mc. Coy was terrific in 2. DVOA and DYAR. It will be interesting to see if Mc.