Elephants can think before they act and resist impulse, study finds

Elephants can think before they act, as well as resist impulsive behavior, reveals new research that adds to growing evidence of elephants possessing sophisticated cognitive skills.

Experiments at the National Elephant Institute in Thailand show Asian pachyderms are able to deny their impulses and choose a more rational course of action in order to solve problems.

The study, published in the journal PLOS One, provides the first evidence of inhibitory control in elephants and offers insights into how they make decisions and adapt to changing environments.

Researchers explained that inhibitory control – the ability to resist an impulse in favour of more effective behavior – is an important part of decision-making and cognitive flexibility. The skill has previously been observed in various birds and mammals, often during detour tests.

In the new study, the Hunter College research team documented the first such behavior in elephants. When presented with a transparent box with small holes through which they could see and smell fruit inside, the elephants consistently resisted the temptation to reach directly for the food and instead chose an opening on the side of the box as they had been taught earlier.

When the box was later rotated, the elephants at first succumbed to the impulse to reach for the previous position of the opening before quickly correcting their behavior. The adjustment was slower in older individuals, with one possible explanation being cognitive decline with age.

Study co-author Professor Joshua Plotnik, from City University of New York, has studied elephant intelligence in Thailand for nearly two decades.

His work has shown that elephants can recognize themselves in mirrors, console distressed companions, coordinate actions with partners and solve novel problems.”The more we understand about how elephants think, make decisions about risk, and adapt to human-driven environmental change, the better we can predict ‘what they’ll do next’ and the better designed our strategies for human-elephant coexistence can be,” said Prof. Plotnik.

“When elephants were faced with a situation in which they needed to suppress an impulsive behavior, they were generally able to suppress the impulse. This ability may be important for elephants’ problem-solving,” said co-author Dr. Sydney Hope of Hunter College.