An important question in comparative cognition is whether animals are capable of planning ahead. Todd and Hills (Current Directions in Psychological Science, 29(3), 309–315, 2020) recently suggested that the ability to plan and choose internally may have scaffolded upon the cognitive mechanisms required by animals to search among patchy resources in their external environment. The traveling salesperson problem (TSP) is a spatial optimization problem in which a traveler is faced with the task of finding the best route from a start location to two or more destinations or targets. The Clark’s nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) is a food-storing corvid with a highly specialized spatial memory. Spatial memory would appear to be deeply rooted in the cognitive mechanisms required for choosing efficiently among multiple alternative routes during a TSP. If so, then species like nutcrackers that are more dependent upon spatial memory for survival may have a greater ability to plan ahead or choose more efficiently among different route options than species that have less selective pressure for remembering the location of food, like pigeons. We examined the ability of nutcrackers to solve TSPs using the same procedures and target configurations as in our past research (Gibson, Wilkerson, & Kelly, Animal Cognition, 15, 379–391, 2012) to explore if nutcrackers can efficiently solve TSPs and how their route solutions compare with those of pigeons. Nutcrackers did not display an advantage in route efficiency and performed comparably to pigeons. Both species tended to prefer a nearest-neighbor strategy to more globally efficient routes. Having a more robust spatial memory may not improve the ability of animals to determine routes to multiple locations.

比较认知中的一个重要问题是动物是否能够提前计划。Todd 和 Hills（心理科学的当前方向，29(3), 309–315, 2020）最近提出，内部计划和选择的能力可能建立在动物在外部环境中寻找零散资源所需的认知机制上. 旅行商问题 (TSP) 是一个空间优化问题，其中旅行者面临的任务是找到从起点到两个或多个目的地或目标的最佳路线。克拉克胡桃夹子 ( Nucifraga columbiana) 是一种具有高度专业化空间记忆的食物储存鸦科动物。空间记忆似乎深深植根于在 TSP 期间在多个替代路线中进行有效选择所需的认知机制。如果是这样，那么像胡桃夹子这样更依赖空间记忆生存的物种可能比鸽子等对记住食物位置的选择压力较小的物种具有更大的提前计划能力或在不同的路线选择中更有效地选择。我们使用与过去研究（Gibson、Wilkerson 和 Kelly，Animal Cognition, 15, 379–391, 2012) 探索胡桃夹子是否可以有效地解决 TSP 以及他们的路线解决方案与鸽子的路线解决方案相比如何。胡桃夹子在路线效率上没有表现出优势，表现与鸽子相当。这两种物种都倾向于选择最近邻策略而不是更有效的全球路线。拥有更强大的空间记忆可能不会提高动物确定通往多个位置的路线的能力。