NEW YORK, BRONX (ORDO News) — People have always considered pigeons to be simple creatures with limited mental abilities. But recent research reported in the journal iScience has changed our understanding of them in surprising ways. The pigeons turned out to be smarter than we thought.
According to a study conducted by scientists, pigeons are able to effectively classify visual images and solve even complex problems. And surprisingly, the methods used by pigeons turned out to be similar to artificial intelligence algorithms.
The researchers concluded that pigeons use a brute-force method, which, although considered primitive, turns out to be quite effective. This method consists of searching through all possible options to solve a problem. Interestingly, this method is also used in artificial intelligence algorithms.
To confirm their guesses, scientists conducted an experiment in which pigeons were shown images with different geometric elements, and the birds had to classify them by pressing the appropriate button. The tasks were of varying difficulty, and the pigeons were “rewarded” with a treat for correct answers.
Surprisingly, the pigeons learned from their mistakes and gradually increased the percentage of correct answers from 55% to 95% for easy tasks and from 55% to 68% for more difficult ones. These results showed that pigeons are capable of learning and applying similar problem-solving algorithms to artificial intelligence.
Scientists have noticed that both pigeons and artificial intelligence solve problems by trial and error combined with associative learning. This means that they make a connection between the correct answer and the reward.
However, scientists have concluded that pigeons achieve learning success because they do not “burden themselves” with complex rules, while humans often create additional difficulties for themselves by following complex, formulated rules.
These new discoveries in pigeon intelligence expand our understanding of bird intelligence and allow us to reconsider stereotypes. Pigeons have proven to be amazing creatures, capable of solving complex problems and learning from their mistakes, making them one of the smartest birds on the planet.
We must remember that the lesson that pigeon intelligence teaches us is simplicity and efficiency in solving problems. You don’t always need to complicate your life with complex rules – sometimes trial and error is the best way to achieve success.
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News agencies contributed to this report, edited and published by ORDO News editors.
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