Kea show three signatures of domain-general statistical inference

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One key aspect of domain-general thought is the ability to integrate information across
different cognitive domains. Here, we tested whether kea (Nestor notabilis) can use relative
quantities when predicting sampling outcomes, and then integrate both physical information
about the presence of a barrier, and social information about the biased sampling of an
experimenter, into their predictions. Our results show that kea exhibit three signatures of
statistical inference, and therefore can integrate knowledge across different cognitive
domains to flexibly adjust their predictions of sampling events. This result provides evidence
that true statistical inference is found outside of the great apes, and that aspects of domaingeneral
thinking can convergently evolve in brains with a highly different structure from
primates. This has important implications not only for our understanding of how intelligence
evolves, but also for research focused on how to create artificial domain-general thought
processes.

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