Back in 2021, researchers tested the intelligence of cephalopods. Then the results showed that we clearly should not underestimate these animals. In fact, cephalopods managed to successfully pass a test that was developed by scientists for human children, writes Science Alert.

During testing, cuttlefish were given a new version of the marshmallow test.. Note that we are talking about the Stanford marshmallow experiment, which is quite simple. During the test, the child is placed in a room with marshmallows, where he is told that if he can avoid eating a marshmallow within 15 minutes, he will receive an extra marshmallow and will be allowed to eat both.

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This ability to delay gratification, according to scientists, demonstrates cognitive abilities such as planning for the future. Scientists originally conducted this testing to study how human cognition develops.. Among other things, they tried to find out at what age a person is smart enough to delay gratification if it will bring a better result in the future.

Since the test is quite simple, scientists adjusted it for animals. Unfortunately, the researchers couldn't just tell them about the possible reward if they waited, but they could teach the animals to understand that the best food was ahead if the animal didn't eat it all at once.. Previous studies have already shown that some primates, dogs and corvids are able to pass the marshmallow test.

In 2020, scientists tested common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) for the first time.. The results showed that cephalopods may stop eating crab meat in the morning once they learn that they will get much more shrimp in the evening..

It is suggested that the cephalopod's ability to learn and adapt may have evolved to give cuttlefish an advantage in harsh marine environments.. But according to the study's lead author, behavioral ecologist Alexandra Schnell of the University of Cambridge, in the 2020 experiment it was difficult to determine whether the change in behavior was a response to prey availability or a demonstration of self-control..

Now scientists have developed a new test to dispel all doubts. Six cuttlefish were placed in a special tank with two closed chambers with transparent doors so that the animals could see what was inside.. These chambers contained snacks: one contained a piece of raw king prawn, the second contained a live grass shrimp..

The chamber doors were also marked with symbols that the cuttlefish were trained to recognize: a circle - the door will open immediately, a triangle - after a period of time from 10 to 130 seconds. And the square, used only in the control condition, meant that the door remained closed indefinitely.

In the test condition, the shrimp was placed behind an open door, while the live shrimp was only accessible after a delay. If a cuttlefish grabbed a shrimp, the shrimp was immediately removed. Meanwhile, in the control group, the shrimp remained inaccessible behind a door with a square symbol that did not open.

The results of the study show that all cuttlefish in the test conditions decided to wait for their favorite food (live shrimp), but did not bother to do so in the control group, where they could not access it.

As a result, scientists have concluded that cuttlefish can exercise self-control, but scientists still don't know how or why this happens..

Focus previously wrote about how cuttlefish won the hearts of scientists.