Innovative composite tool use by human children: adapting the golf club task from Goffin's cockatoos

Abstract

We adapted a composite tool innovation task that had been solved by Goffin's cockatoos to be suitable for human children. Participants had to use a stick to push a ball onto a collapsible platform to release a reward. We tested a total of 204 participants: 187 children aged 4 to 8-years-old and 17 adults. There was a gradual increase in the proportion of children innovating composite tool use from 50% at 3–4 years to almost 90% at 7–8 years. 94% of adults innovated composite tool use. We replicated the innovation gap reported in previous studies: most children who failed succeeded following prompts or a demonstration. The results provide opportunity to broaden our understanding of the development of human tool innovation, as well as making closer comparisons with non-human animals.