Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius) show episodic-like memory through the incidental encoding of information
Open accessAbstract
Episodic memory describes the conscious reimagining of our memories and is often considered to be a uniquely human ability. As these phenomenological components are embedded within its definition, major issues arise when investigating the presence of episodic memory in non-human animals. Importantly, however, when we as humans recall a specific experience, we may remember details from that experience that were inconsequential to our needs, thoughts, or desires at that time. This ‘incidental’ information is nevertheless encoded automatically as part of the memory and is subsequently recalled within a holistic representation of the event. The incidental encoding and unexpected question paradigm represents this characteristic feature of human episodic memory and can be employed to investigate memory recall in non-human animals. However, without evidence for the associated phenomenology during recall, this type of memory is termed ‘episodic-like memory’. Using this approach, we tested seven Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius) on their ability to use incidental visual information (associated with observed experimenter made ‘caches’) to solve an unexpected memory test. The birds performed above chance levels, suggesting that Eurasian jays can encode, retain, recall, and access incidental visual information within a remembered event, which is an ability indicative of episodic memory in humans.
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Multiple non-human species are able to encode and recall incidental information within remembered events.
“These studies demonstrate that multiple non-human species are able to encode and recall incidental information within remembered events, such as spatial locations [80,81,83,93,97,98], visual markers [92], the identity of experimenters [83], the presence (or absence) of food [74,82], odour cues [94], as well as aspects of their own [79–81,93,95] and other’s behaviour [96].”
From Is episodic-like memory <i>like</i> episodic memory? (2024) · cites this paper as [92]
Much of the evidence for episodic-like memory in birds, particularly using the what-where-when paradigm, has revolved around food caching in species highly specialized in this behaviour: scrub-jays, Eurasian jays, magpies, and black-capped chickadees.
“Much of the evidence for episodic-like memory in birds, particularly using the what–where–when paradigm, has revolved around food caching in species that are highly specialized in this behaviour, namely scrub-jays [52,59,60], Eurasian jays [92], magpies [61] and black-capped chickadees [62].”
From Is episodic-like memory <i>like</i> episodic memory? (2024) · cites this paper as [92]
Some experiments required birds to remember details of caches they did not make themselves, but this is still within their naturally occurring behavioural repertoire.
“While some of these experiments required the birds to remember details of caches that they did not make themselves [62,92], this is still under the remit of their naturally occurring behavioural repertoire.”
From Is episodic-like memory <i>like</i> episodic memory? (2024) · cites this paper as [92]
To access incidentally encoded information, an animal must recall a holistic representation of the episode, containing many details surrounding the event as well as the event narrative sequence, and subsequently replay, target and manipulate this information within the event representation.
“To access incidentally encoded information, an animal must recall a holistic representation of the episode, containing many details surrounding the event as well as the event narrative sequence, and subsequently replay, target and manipulate this information within the event representation [85,92,94,114].”
From Is episodic-like memory <i>like</i> episodic memory? (2024) · cites this paper as [92]
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- Authors
- Davies, J. R., Garcia-Pelegrin, E., & Clayton, N. S.
- Affiliations
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Davies, James R.
- Venue
- PLOS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2024-05-15
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- e0301298
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC11095760
- OpenAlex
- W4396939036
- Cited by
- 31
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 5
- FWCI
- 7.53
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Apollo (University of Cambridge) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Apollo (cc-by)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- episodic-like memory, Eurasian jay, Garrulus glandarius, incidental encoding, memory retrieval, visual memory, animal cognition
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Recall, Passeriformes, Memory, Episodic
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