The Wisdom of Parrots: Dr Orosz, 2014 Wellness Retreat
Bird Brains: Simple or Complex?
People used to think that parrots operated on reflexes only, a simplistic level because of a smooth shape brain – lissencephalic brain - no gyri and sulci
Wrinkles increase surface area on brain leading to assumption that more ‘wrinkles’ = more capacity for learning, intelligence
Birds have homologus cells that are deeper than were envisioned
Central nervous system CNS
composed of brain and spinal cord
Peripheral nervous system PNS
cranial nerves, head and neck
spinal nerves: body wall
Nervous system is composed of neurons, composed of:
body: cell soma
dendrites = extensions which carry information towards
axons are extensions that carry
Neurons
primary information/communication
a collection of axons – those are nerves (think cable system for nerves)
work in parallel systems
have to bring info to the brain so you scan the environment with different type of receptors
integrated many systems at a higher cognitive level
initiate body responses to maintain homeostasis
In addition to the nerves that send the information, you have neuroglial cells
found in the CNS and PNS
provide structural support
nutritional support
remove debris
increase speed of electrical transmission
significant role in processing and storing processing information
structure of a typical neuron: o dendrite, cell body, node of ranvier, axon, schwann cell, myelin sheath, axon terminal

Nerve Cell Transmission:
electrical impulse transformed – like telephone line
synaptic cleft
transmitted conducting substance – neurotransmitter of various types, release and binding to receptors, post-synaptic cell
A collection of axons in the PHC are nerves, when axons are found within CNS they are tracts
When you have a collection of cells/cell bodies within the CNS, it is a nucleus
Collection of cell body outside CNS are galled ganglia
Brain Functions: very hard to neuroatotomically to define
Thought
Memory
Consciousness
Not sure where these processes originate from
Look at these in relation to the sociality hypothesis for birds
Also look at things like attention, emotional experience, sleep which are all CNS functions
We don’t understand a lot of where some of the functions occur – learning more about them with Pet Scanners all the time
Motor activity o Fight or flight, somatic or body movement o Visceral or organ movement o Endocrine functions
Bird Brains – basic organization
Hind Brain made up of medulla and pons
Midbrain
Forebrain represents cortex and thalamus
Cerebellum – coordinates movement
Hindbrain + midbrain evolved from reptilian brain (35 years ago thought birds didn’t feel pain) o Similar to mammals o More homologus structures are recognized, particularly motor and sensory nuclei

Avian telencephalic complex
commonality function and connections
receive relay optic fibers – rotund nucleus
project motor pathways to the hind brain
suggests that telecephalic complex neocortex of mammals
Looking at hindbrain, midbrain and thalamus
brainstem is ascending and descending tracts
tracts provide communication, awareness of body in 3s space, and awareness of environment
provide for willful movement
Avian brain is HIGHLY organized
There are a number of tracts that provide conscious sensory information
a collection of nerves within CNS
take in information from the body wall
send to the cortex of the brain to understand where you are in 3D space, etc
The above are called conscious propaceptical pathways
If you have a conscious understanding of space you also have unconscious sensory information
Cerebellum operates just like an elevator operates
also receives info about body in 3d space
gets info through different tracts, redundant
cerebellum provides the game plan for movement
Conscious motor movement modified by the cerebellum to coordinate smooth movement
What about the brain?
Bird Brains are NOT THAT SIMPLE – appears that birds are similar to mammals
Linear evolutionary process
reptile - > bird -> mammal
archistratun (cortex) association reflexes
 The brain consortium has looked at these differences – location diagram of new view, avian brain vs mammal
Avian brain nomenclature consortium

Avian brain: has cognitive emotional, and sociality abilities – emotional tones come from amagdyla
Avian Intelligence: Hypothesis
intelligence evolved to not solve physical problems to process and use social information
With social evolution birds have to use and understand social info
social knowledge of conspecifics
not limited to apes/primates
birds have to be able to think through all processes – the bigger the flock the more the bird has to maintain individual and flock social process
goes beyond birds to cetacean, not just humans
Avian intelligence brain size similar to apes in corvids, jackdwars and parrots in regards to size vs mass and weight
Prefrontal cortex size of apes similar – prefrontal cortex is where you have forethought – birds DO have prefrontal cortex, large
Parrots with larger social groups are more complex thinkers compared to those that naturally congregate in smaller flock sizes
Sociality theory relates to prefrontal cortex size
Complex cognition requires a tool kit:
Casual reasoning
Flexibility
Imagination
Prospection – ability to think in the future
Avian cognitive psychology
understanding = reasoning about a domain beyond associative processes
tool use and manufacture o extension of hand or beak o attainment of an immediate goal o appreciate the function of the tool
Common example – new Caledonian crows (locate video clip - youtube.com/watch=TtmLVP0HvDG ) – use of tools and

manufacture to solve a problem, can use tool in population, how tool is used is on an individual level, and population differences mean different types of tools are manufactured and used
Plasticity means the ability to think through the process and create a novel response. Plasticity is based the levels of estrogen
Avian Intelligence
travelling mentally in time and space o caching food (food, nuts for example) – can collect and store
30,000 pine nuts and remember where the nuts are for a period of 6 months o understand perishability of cached food o what, where, and when = episodic memory
social cognition of cache protection and pilfering o spatial memory
cache protection strategies o caching behind a barrier o inedible objects o retrieval and reaching
Is condition based on similar or different mental processes?
Tool use and caching suggest birds adjust actions based on what they think others will do, pay attention to others mental states – this is important to bird owners. You become their flock, because it is a part of their normal brain makeup and to be expected.
Birds are flexible in what they define as a flock – example mixed species household
Flexibility
caching
can act on information
flexible learning strategies result in creativity
use generalized learnings to novel situations: jays and some parrots flexible, pigeons are rote learners, African greys and jays understand same vs different
Imagination
ability to envision
practice of possible situations
important in experiencing novel situations

involves insight, cognition and experience
Prospection
the ability to imagine possible future events
current vs future thinking, and reaching when observed
often a part of the prefrontal cortex
Emotional tone = limbic system
In birds, hippocampus and amygdala are very large
Hippocampus food storage behavior, home roosting and migration, memory storage
Amygdala involved in arousal and emotional tone
Songbird brain and aging – male birds learn complex songs from their fathers – vocal practicing – seasonal gonadal testosterone – 2 telencephalic overlapping circuits (literally regrow tracts)-> song
motor output
learning testosterone assists in memory and memory retrieval
Birds can literally regrow nerves and do it every year – they don’t have them in s America, regrew when in united states – they lose tracts as they migrate
Androgens promote long term retention, estrogrens promote plasticity for learning
Vocal learning
parrotlet chicks learn contact calls in the nest
Yellow naped amazons in costa rica have geographical variation o There are 3 distinct dialects o Variation of call structure within a dialect o Able to interchange dialects at border areas o Vocal dialects compared with genetic variation – no genetic difference, related to social pressures
Visual learning
Scolding by crows captures -> individual learning

Birds recognize and associate with individuals
Tests done on crows with capture and tagging mask vs unmasked, affect on crows and seeing the strong response from the crow
Learning by association of mob scene – there is horizontal transition, birds learned from others
Young birds learn by vertical transmission