15th CeMM S.M.A.R.T. Lecture with Dr. Alice Auersperg: "Breaking new ground: Innovation in birds, primates and human infants"

Host: Giulio Superti-Furga

Innovation—the ability to generate novel solutions to unfamiliar problems—is a key marker of cognitive flexibility. Studying its origins in nature is therefore essential to understanding technological evolution. Here, I explore how innovative behavior arises across distantly related species, drawing on examples from my research with parrots, primates, and human infants. These examples span across a range from simple foraging innovations and complex multi-step problem solving to sophisticated cases of tool use and manufacture. Along the way, I reflect on diverse methodologies for studying animal innovation, including large-scale literature reviews, observational studies of spontaneous behavior in the wild, and controlled experiments involving artificial problem-solving tasks.

About the speaker:

Alice Auersperg is Associate Professor at the Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, and head of the Goffin Lab. Her research explores the evolutionary foundations of intelligence, focusing on how animals solve problems, use tools, and innovate. Thereby she is particularly known for her work on the tool use of the Goffin’s cockatoo (Cacatua goffiniana). Her work integrates approaches from animal behavior, comparative cogntion, developmental psychology and robotics. She is a START Prize laureate and a member of the Young Academy of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.