Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id NAA00875 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 16 Aug 2000 13:22:19 +0100 Message-ID: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D31017459A8@inchna.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Dolphin philosophy Fw: Animal Intelligence Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2000 13:19:54 +0100 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
thankd for this sound very interesting.
> ----------
> From: Anne Hansen
> Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Sent: Wednesday, August 16, 2000 12:28 pm
> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Subject: Re:Dolphin philosophy Fw: Animal Intelligence
>
>
>
>
> Off track slightly to communication but I thought this may be of
> interest..
> Does any one know of other such experiments
>
> Anne
>
>
> To: <SCIENCE-MATTERS@YOUR.abc.net.au>
> Sent: Monday, 14 August 2000 11:38
> Subject: Animal Intelligence
>
>
> > There seems to be a 'work to rule' policy on the part of the listserv on
> > weekends. I sent the following message on Sunday but it was delivered to
> a
> > black hole in cyberspace, I suspect.
> >
> >
> > In the Weekend Australian of 5/6 Aug 00 there is a three-page article
> about
> > intelligence in animals. The article also discusses whether or not
> 'human
> > rights' should be extended to animals, and if so, to which animals.
> >
> > The most interesting part (to me) of the article is the opening few
> paras.
> > An experiment was done to determine if dolphins were capable of
> realising
> > that a person had a belief that they knew to be false. The experiment
> was
> > conducted as follows:
> >
> > Two boxes were placed in a tank. A fish would be in one, the other would
> be
> > empty. The handler would tap on one box--the one that had a fish in it.
> If
> > the dolphin touched that box with his/her nose, the fish would be given
> to
> > the dolphin. But if the dolphin touched the wrong box--no fish. After a
> > while the dolphins learned that the box that their handler tapped was
> the
> > one containing the fish, so they would touch this one.
> >
> > When they were familiar with this, the handler would pretend to be
> > distracted. While the handler was facing the other way, a person would
> > exchange the boxes. The handler would then turn back and tap on a box.
> The
> > dolphins then had to choose between the 'correct box' (assuming that the
> > handler did not realise the exchange had taken place) and the box that
> he
> > tapped. Although the scientific paper to be submitted to a peer-reviewed
> > journal has not been through the refereeing process, according to this
> > article the statistics indicated a significant number of correct answers
> > (ie, that the dolphins were aware of the 'false belief' of the handler,
> and
> > so touched the box he had not tapped).
> >
> > The article states that 'Such tests have been recognised as an indicator
> of
> > advanced cognitive abilities in humans since the early 1980s'.
> Generally,
> > children get tests similar to this wrong until they are about 4-6 years
> of
> > age. Understanding such false beliefs is thought to depend on making an
> > inference about a mental state in someone else, thereby (perhaps)
> indicating
> > an awareness of 'self' and 'others'. One scientist is quoted as saying:
> > ''This is a test (that) if replicated, indicates that we are not the
> only
> > sentient beings on earth.'
> >
> > Even allowing for the journalistic hyperbole, I believe that this is a
> > fascinating and potentially very important finding.
> >
> > Further into the article is neurological/anatomical evidence that the
> great
> > apes may have an awareness of self. Cells in the frontal lobe of people
> that
> > serve no known function other than as a centre of self-awareness have
> now
> > been isolated from the frontal lobes of chimpanzees, gorillas and
> > orang-outangs.
> > Chris Forbes-Ewan
>
>
>
> ===============================================================
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This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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