Who's a clever boy then! Parrot shown to have same intelligence level as four-year-old child Captive bred Goffin's cockatoo able to resist temptation of eating Discovery shows they can think of long term benefits of waiting It mirrors a famous experiment on children in the U.S. 40 years ago A breed of parrot has been shown to be as clever as a child of four when it comes to making long term decisions proving their species don't, as is often assumed, just learn parrot-fashion. Scientists found the captive bred Goffin's cockatoo is able to resist the temptation of eating an immediate food item in order to trade it for a better reward down the line. This mirrored a famous experiment in the U.S. 40 years ago when nursery school children were put in a room and given a marshmallow, biscuit or pretzel stick. They could either eat it right away or wait 15 minutes and get an extra treat. The captive bred Goffin's cockatoo can resist the temptation of eating an immediate food item in order to trade it for a better reward in the future Tracking them over time those with the ability to wait got better grades, were healthier, enjoyed greater professional success and proved better at staying in relationships - even decades after they took the test. They were, in short, better at life. The ability to anticpate a delayed gain is considered mentally challenging since it requires not just the capacity to control a direct impulse but also to assess the gain's beneficial value against the cost of having to wait and the reliability of the trader. Psychologists say such aptitude could be considered signs of economic decision making and are rarely found outside humans. Just a few, typically large brained animals, have been found able to refuse an immediate snack for a bigger one for more than a minute. But the Indonesian cockatoo, which hit the headlines last year by spontaneously making and using 'tools' to reach food, has now managed it, reports the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. Isabelle Laumer, of the University of Vienna, said: 'The animals were allowed to pick up an initial food item and given the opportunity to return it directly into the experimenter's hand after an increasing time delay. The University of Vienna study mirrored a famous experiment in the U.S. forty years ago when nursery school childrens were put in a room and given a marshmallow, biscuit or pretzel stick Pieces of eight: Psychologists say such aptitude could be considered signs of economic decision making and are rarely found outside humans If the initial food item had not been nibbled by this time, the bird received another reward of an even higher preferred food type or of a larger quantity than the initial food in exchange. Although we picked pecan nuts as the initial reward which were highly liked by the birds and would under normal circumstances be consumed straightaway, we found all 14 of the birds waited for food of higher quality, such as a cashew nut, for up to 80 seconds. Study co-author Dr Alice Auersperg said the Goffins acted 'astonishingly like economic agents', trading off between immediate and future benefits. She said: 'While human infants or primates can hold the initial food in their hands, one should also consider the birds were able to wait although they had to hold the food in their beaks, directly against their taste organs while waiting. 'Imagine placing a cookie directly into a toddler's mouth and telling him or her they will only receive a piece of chocolate if the cookie is not nibbled for over a minute.' Another of the researchers Professor Thomas Bugnyar has carried out similar studies on ravens and crows. He added: 'Until recently, birds were considered to lack any self control. When we found corvids could wait for delayed food, we speculated which socioecological onditions could favour the evolution of such skills. To test our ideas we needed clever birds that are distantly related to corvids. Parrots were the obvious choice and the results on Goffins show we are on the right track.