Birding expertise

3 papers6 findings

C, W, M, H: cells, worms or flies, mice, humans. Dark: independent labs found the same change there. Light: one lab or one study. Outline: nothing yet.

Labs are independent when their papers share no last author and no institution.

Against: findings that point the other way from most findings on the same outcome.

On aging: the drug’s trials ARN judged to be about aging, of every trial that tests it for any use.

No results posted: trials that ended more than a year ago with no results on ClinicalTrials.gov and no paper in ARN’s record.

Company ties: findings with an author at a company, or from a paper whose competing-interests statement declares ties to one.

2 independent labs in 1 country

Humans3

Outcomes

Working memory binding speed

no changein humans2

2 studies

Birding expertise has no effect on working memory binding speed in humans.
“Block 1 showed that older experts were just as slow as older novices when adapting the presentation rate of the pairs to achieve similar accuracy performance”
HumansBlock 1; presentation rate adapted to achieve similar accuracy; intact and scrambled bird stimuli
What makes a birdbrain tick: Long-term memory drives expertise effects on working memory binding
OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints)22 Jan 2026Preprint
Birding expertise has no effect on working memory binding speed in humans.
“Block 1 showed that older experts were just as slow as older novices”
HumansBlock 1; presentation rates adapted to achieve similar accuracy; intact and scrambled bird stimuli
What Makes a Birdbrain Tick: Long-term Memory Drives Expertise Effects on Working Memory Binding
Preprint20 Nov 2025Preprint

Speed of establishing bindings in working memory

no changein humans1

1 study

Birding expertise has no effect on speed of establishing bindings in working memory in humans.
“older experts were just as slow as older novices when adapting the presentation rate of the pairs to achieve similar accuracy performance”
Human trial
What makes a birdbrain tick: Long-term memory drives expertise effects on working memory binding
Psychology and aging15 Dec 2025

Working memory binding

upin humans1

1 study

Birding expertise improves working memory binding in humans.
“older experts exhibited an advantage to model parameter estimates of binding memory, but only when LTM was reliable”
Human trialwhen long-term memory was reliable (under no proactive interference)
What makes a birdbrain tick: Long-term memory drives expertise effects on working memory binding
Psychology and aging15 Dec 2025

Associations

Model-estimated binding memory

upin humans1

1 study

Birding expertise is associated with model-estimated binding memory in humans.
“older experts exhibited an advantage to model parameter estimates of binding memory, but only when LTM was reliable (i.e., under no but not high proactive interference).”
HumansBlock 2; advantage under no proactive interference but not high proactive interference
What makes a birdbrain tick: Long-term memory drives expertise effects on working memory binding
OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints)22 Jan 2026Preprint

Binding memory model parameter estimates

upin humans1

1 study

Birding expertise is associated with binding memory model parameter estimates in humans.
“older experts exhibited an advantage to model parameter estimates of binding memory, but only when LTM was reliable”
HumansBlock 2; reliable long-term memory under no, but not high, proactive interference
What Makes a Birdbrain Tick: Long-term Memory Drives Expertise Effects on Working Memory Binding
Preprint20 Nov 2025Preprint