Cuttlefish can pass the ’snacking test,’ study finds

A popular  TikTok challenge  has evolved in which kids resist eating snacks; a new study finds that cuttlefish can do the same. According to the research, cuttlefish can delay gratification-wait for a better meal rather than be tempted by the one at hand-and those that can wait longest also do better in a learning test. This intriguing report marks the first time a link between self-control and intelligence has been found in an animal other than humans and chimpanzees. The research, which was published March 3 in  Proceedings of the Royal Society B , was conducted at the Marine Biological Laboratory while lead author  Alexandra Schnell  of the University of Cambridge in the U.K. was in residence there as a  Grass Fellow. Founded in 1888 in Woods Hole, MA, the Marine Biological Laboratory is a leading institution in fundamental biological research and is affiliated with the University of Chicago. "We used an adapted version of the Stanford marshmallow test, where children were given a choice of taking an immediate reward (1 marshmallow) or waiting to earn a delayed but better reward (2 marshmallows)," Schnell said. "Cuttlefish in the present study were all able to wait for the better reward and tolerated delays for up to 50-130 seconds, which is comparable to what we see in large-brained vertebrates such as chimpanzees, crows and parrots." Cuttlefish that could wait longer for a meal also showed better cognitive performance in a learning task. In that experiment, cuttlefish were trained to associate a visual cue with a food reward.