Are cognitive abilities under selection by female choice? A comment on Chen et al. (2019)

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Andres Camacho-Alpízar, Andrea S. Griffin, Lauren M. Guillette

• A recent paper by Chen et al. 2019 found that female budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) show a preference for males that are successful problem solvers. Is this result sufficient to conclude that mate choice influences the evolution of cognitive abilities? Here, we consider what we currently know about the relationship between problem-solving and cognition. We argue that it is premature to conclude, based on these findings, that cognitive abilities have evolved in part through sexual selection by female choice.

• Date created

  2020-01-01

• Subjects / Keywords

  • cognitive evolution
  • mate choice
  • problem solving
  • sexual selection

• Type of Item

  Article (Published)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-xfaz-j679

• License

  Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International