Title (eng)
Epistemic Curiosity in Kea Parrots and Human Children
Author
Gabriella E. Smith
Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Author
Megan L. Lambert
Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Author
Eliza Swindell
Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
Author
Jan M. Engelmann
Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
Author
Christoph J. Völter
Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Abstract (eng)
Both human children and animals seek information following a violation-of-expectation event, but little research suggests the latter do so for the sake of it. In this preregistered experiment, we compared epistemic curiosity—the pursuit of information for its own sake—in kea parrots (Nestor notabilis) and three-year-old human children (Homo sapiens) following a violation-of-expectation event. Subjects were trained to push a tool into an apparatus that produced a reward before the apparatus was surreptitiously made non-functional in following trials. In both functional and non-functional trials, after solving the task, subjects were rewarded and allowed to explore the apparatus for thirty seconds with the opportunity to peek into the side of the apparatus. We found that relatively more kea peeked than children, but the children and not the kea were significantly more likely to peek in the non-functional versus functional trials, particularly when the researcher was absent. While both species showed markers of curiosity in the experiment, we found expectancy-violation-induced epistemic curiosity only in the children and not the kea in this context.
Keywords (eng)
Epistemic CuriosityInformation SeekingViolation-Of-ExpectationKea ParrotChildrenCuriosity
Type (eng)
journal article
Language
[eng]
Persistent identifier
https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:4713
DOI
10.1162/OPMI.a.34
Is in series
Title (eng)
Open Mind
Volume
9
ISSN
2470-2986
Issued
2025
Number of pages
15
From page
1528
To page
1542
Publication
MIT Press
Version type (eng)
version of record (published version)
Date issued
2025
Access rights (eng)
open access
License
CC BY 4.0 International
Rights statement (eng)
Copyright: © 2025 Gabriella E. Smith, Megan L. Lambert, Eliza Swindell, Jan M. Engelmann, and Christoph J. Völter