Study Finds Crows Process Visual Information Twice as Fast as Mammals

WHO:

Live Science - The study examined two carrion crows (*Corvus corone*).

Live Science - Study co-author Andreas Nieder is a professor of animal physiology and director of the Institute of Neurobiology at the University of Tübingen in Germany.

Live Science - Researchers recorded activity from 248 neurons in the crows’ nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL), a bird-brain region considered functionally comparable to the prefrontal cortex in humans and primates.

WHAT:

Ars Technica - The study found that crows can evaluate visual information about twice as fast as mammals; Ars Technica said the birds’ compact nervous system seems to help them perform tasks quickly.

Live Science - In a touchscreen task, the crows identified the predominant direction of moving dots in an average of 235 milliseconds.

Live Science - The crows were highly accurate. With clear motion and many dots moving together, they reached nearly 100% accuracy; when only 3% of the dots moved together, they still performed better than guessing, answering correctly 50% of the time.

Live Science - The birds maintained high accuracy across rounds, suggesting they did not trade judgment for speed.

Live Science - The study did not directly compare crows with humans or monkeys doing the exact same task. Earlier studies of comparable, self-paced visual-motion tasks suggest humans and monkeys take roughly twice as long as crows.

Live Science - Neural activity allowed researchers to predict a crow’s choice as early as 70 milliseconds after the dots appeared—roughly 170 milliseconds before the bird pecked its response.

Live Science - The findings suggest crows’ decision-making uses a process comparable to primates’, in which neural activity accumulates sensory information until it reaches a decision threshold.

Live Science - Nieder said, “The bigger implication is that a brain does not need a mammalian neocortex to perform sophisticated computations.”

Live Science - Nieder said the findings suggest evolution may have independently developed similar solutions to the same computational problem in birds and mammals.

WHERE:

Live Science - The crows performed the task on a touchscreen, viewing white dots against a black background.

Live Science - The research involved the Institute of Neurobiology at the University of Tübingen in Germany.

WHEN:

Live Science - The study was published in the journal *Science*.

WHY:

Live Science - Nieder said the demands of flight, including navigating three-dimensional environments, avoiding obstacles, and reacting to moving objects, may have favored fast visual processing. Finding food and capturing prey may also require rapid, precise decisions.

Live Science - The study included only two birds and no direct comparison with primates; the article said further research could confirm the results and investigate why crows appeared faster in this type of decision-making.

HOW:

Live Science - Researchers trained the crows to judge whether a cloud of dots moved predominantly left or right and peck the corresponding screen target to earn a mealworm.

Live Science - Researchers varied the proportion of dots moving in the same direction to make the decision easier or harder; other dots moved randomly.

Live Science - Nieder said, “Rather than assuming that the mammalian brain is the blueprint for intelligent behaviour,” researchers can study different species to identify computational principles shared across animals and adaptations to particular environments.

(UPDATED October 23, 2026 19:13 UTC)

Crows may evaluate visual information about twice as fast as mammals, according to a study in *Science*. Researchers trained two carrion crows to watch white dots on a touchscreen and peck left or right to show the dots’ predominant direction, earning a mealworm for correct answers. The birds made their choice in an average of 235 milliseconds and remained highly accurate, even when just 3 percent of the dots moved together. Researchers recorded activity from 248 neurons in a brain region considered functionally comparable to the primate prefrontal cortex. That activity predicted the crows’ choices 70 milliseconds after the dots appeared, well before they pecked. The findings suggest birds and mammals may use similar neural processes to make decisions, despite differences in brain structure. Study co-author Andreas Nieder says flight and hunting may have favored rapid visual processing.