Posted on 04/04/2013 5:28:56 AM PDT by Sir Napsalot
ATLANTA – Humans’ closest animal relatives, chimpanzees, have the ability to “think about thinking” – what is called “metacognition,” according to new research by scientists at Georgia State University and the University at Buffalo.
Michael J. Beran and Bonnie M. Perdue of the Georgia State Language Research Center (LRC) and J. David Smith of the University at Buffalo conducted the research, published in the journal Psychological Science of the Association for Psychological Science.
“The demonstration of metacognition in nonhuman primates has important implications regarding the emergence of self-reflective mind during humans’ cognitive evolution,” the research team noted.
(snip) “There has been an intense debate in the scientific literature in recent years over whether metacognition is unique to humans,” Beran said.
Chimpanzees at Georgia State’s LRC have been trained to use a language-like system of symbols to name things, giving researchers a unique way to query animals about their states of knowing or not knowing.
In the experiment, researchers tested the chimpanzees on a task that required them to use symbols to name what food was hidden in a location. If a piece of banana was hidden, the chimpanzees would report that fact and gain the food by touching the symbol for banana on their symbol keyboards.
But then, the researchers provided chimpanzees either with complete or incomplete information about the identity of the food rewards.
(Read more about the rest of the experiments)
(Excerpt) Read more at gsu.edu ...
Odin knows the names of his toys by genre.
“Get yer bone” is anything like a bone or antler.
“Get yer chewy” is anything rawhide/bully stick.
“Get yer ball” is obvious.
“Get yer squeaky” covers the insane amount of other-shaped squeak toys he owns.
[I’m too lazy to “name” them all so we went for generic descriptions]
“Get Gypsy” means break up the girls’ current bicker-fest.
“Git ‘em!” is self explanatory.
:D
If you really want your mind messed up, watch the PBS show “Nature: What Plants Talk About”.
*Everything* is “thinking”.
Cool graphic. ;^)
Odin knows he’s not supposed to rob the girls’ food when he’s done eating his so he sneaks over and carries their bowls off where I can’t see him and eats the food out of sight.
IMO, that shows intent, pre-planning, a sense of ‘guilt’ and behavior designed to hide the ‘crime’.
Several times this winter when it was especially cold, he took the pillows off of my sofa and carried them over to Djinni on the dogs’ sofa so she could burrow into them.
But only he does that to discourage her from being on “our” sofa where he’d have to share space with her.
[He is not especially altruistic]
:)
Some cool dude gimme that.
;D
Why would anyone want to think about thinking?
If I was close enough, dear Mesta, I’d come bake you an apple pie. I made one Satruday. Had to freeze some of it because me and my cat can’t finish one quickly enough.
I’m glad to see you! I hope you’re feeling much better.
My mom used to say she got full just discussing what we were going to eat for dinner. We were both a lot leaner in those days.
I ask my kitty, Mao, to find her brush. She looks until she finds it. Cute.
Oh yeah, well we are still the only ones that can think about thinking about thinking - dontcha think? Plus the whole opposable thumb thing.
(grin)
I thought Coco the gorilla proved this long ago (along with nearly every dog I had since childhood)?
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