--- title: Crows can evaluate visual info twice as fast as mammals description: Crows evaluate visual evidence twice as fast as primates do, despite lacking a neocortex. Researchers Andreas Nieder and Philipp Schmidbauer ran two carrion... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/crows-can-evaluate-visual-info-twice-as-fast-as-mammals-je7rsxzid twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Crows can evaluate visual info twice as fast as mammals | daily.dev og:description: Crows evaluate visual evidence twice as fast as primates do, despite lacking a neocortex. Researchers Andreas Nieder and Philipp Schmidbauer ran two carrion... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/crows-can-evaluate-visual-info-twice-as-fast-as-mammals-je7rsxzid og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/je7RsXZID.png og:image:alt: Crows can evaluate visual info twice as fast as mammals og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Crows can evaluate visual info twice as fast as mammals **[Ars Technica](https://daily.dev/sources/arstechnica)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Crows evaluate visual evidence twice as fast as primates do, despite lacking a neocortex. Researchers Andreas Nieder and Philipp Schmidbauer ran two carrion crows through the classic random-dot-motion task also used on monkeys. The birds pecked a target to report the direction dots were drifting, earning a mealworm for correct answers. Dot coherence ranged from 81 percent, trivially easy, down to 3 percent, barely above noise, plus a zero percent condition with no correct answer. The crows used the same evidence-accumulation logic as primates but finished the task two times faster. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How much faster do crows process visual decision-making tasks compared to primates? Crows evaluate visual evidence and reach a decision about twice as fast as primates do. In a study by Andreas Nieder and Philipp Schmidbauer at the University of Tübingen, two carrion crows performed the same random-dot-motion task used on monkeys, using the same evidence-accumulation logic but completing it in roughly half the time. _daily.dev surfaces research like this for anyone following neuroscience and cognition breakthroughs._ ### What is the random-dot-motion task used to study decision-making in the brain? It's a task where a subject watches a cloud of flickering dots, some fraction of which drift coherently in one direction, and must judge that direction. Coherence levels tested ranged from 81 percent, trivially easy, down to 3 percent, barely distinguishable from noise, plus a zero percent condition with no correct answer. In primates, neurons accumulate this visual evidence until their firing rate crosses a threshold, triggering a decision. _Readers tracking cognitive science methodology can follow studies like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Brain circuit keeps tabs on what just happened to aid judgment of what’s happening now](https://daily.dev/posts/brain-circuit-keeps-tabs-on-what-just-happened-to-aid-judgment-of-what-s-happening-now-atusaev5a) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Teaching AI to See the World More Like Humans Do](https://daily.dev/posts/teaching-ai-to-see-the-world-more-like-humans-do-svbemqel2) · DeepMind · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/crows-can-evaluate-visual-info-twice-as-fast-as-mammals-je7rsxzid) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Crows can evaluate visual info twice as fast as mammals","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/crows-can-evaluate-visual-info-twice-as-fast-as-mammals-je7rsxzid","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/crows-can-evaluate-visual-info-twice-as-fast-as-mammals-je7rsxzid"},"datePublished":"2026-10-23T18:32:20.282Z","dateModified":"2026-10-23T18:32:48.185Z","description":"Crows evaluate visual evidence twice as fast as primates do, despite lacking a neocortex. 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In a study by Andreas Nieder and Philipp Schmidbauer at the University of Tübingen, two carrion crows performed the same random-dot-motion task used on monkeys, using the same evidence-accumulation logic but completing it in roughly half the time. daily.dev surfaces research like this for anyone following neuroscience and cognition breakthroughs."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What is the random-dot-motion task used to study decision-making in the brain?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"It's a task where a subject watches a cloud of flickering dots, some fraction of which drift coherently in one direction, and must judge that direction. Coherence levels tested ranged from 81 percent, trivially easy, down to 3 percent, barely distinguishable from noise, plus a zero percent condition with no correct answer. In primates, neurons accumulate this visual evidence until their firing rate crosses a threshold, triggering a decision. Readers tracking cognitive science methodology can follow studies like this on daily.dev."}}]} ```