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Data from: The domain specificity of intertemporal choice in pinyon jays

Cite this dataset

Stevens, Jeffrey R.; Kennedy, Bryce A.; Morales, Dina; Burks, Marianna (2016). Data from: The domain specificity of intertemporal choice in pinyon jays [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4t420

Abstract

When choosing between a piece of cake now versus a slimmer waistline in the future, many of us have difficulty with self-control. Food-caching species, however, regularly hide food for later recovery, sometimes waiting months before retrieving their caches. It remains unclear whether these long-term choices generalize outside of the caching domain. We hypothesized that the ability to save for the future is a general tendency that cuts across different situations. To test this hypothesis, we measured and experimentally manipulated caching to evaluate its relationship with operant measures of self-control in pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus). We found no correlation between caching and self-control at the individual level, and experimentally increasing caching did not influence self-control. The self-control required for caching food, therefore, does not carry over to other foraging tasks, suggesting that it is domain specific in pinyon jays.

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