How Animals Think and Feel: an Introduction to Non-Human Psychology by Cheng Ken;

Author:Cheng, Ken;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABC-CLIO, LLC
Published: 2016-10-17T04:00:00+00:00

Metacognitive Animals

Michael J. Beran

Metacognition involves two processes: (1) control through directing one’s own thoughts and memory retrieval processes and (2) monitoring of one’s own thought processes and knowledge states. Metacognition is considered a hallmark of human intelligence. It has served as a theoretical and empirical landmark for comparative cognition researchers attempting to understand and illustrate the evolutionary emergence of human cognitive capacities by examining them in other species.

The evidence from some nonhuman species suggests that they also manifest control and monitoring. Rhesus monkeys, for example, can classify stimuli according to features like density or length. When faced with stimuli that are tough to classify (e.g., of intermediate length), monkeys are most likely to choose an “escape” response that allows them to decline the judgment and move to the next trial. Their use of that escape response closely mirrors how humans use it, and humans express that they use it when they are unsure. Monkeys also monitor memory states, asking to see a to-be-remembered stimulus more often on trials when their memory for that stimulus is weakest (shown by poor performance when they take the memory test). Monkeys also provide confidence judgments about their responses, “betting” high (for high reward, but also high penalties for errors) on trials when they are correct and “betting” low on trials when an error is more likely.

Chimpanzees also show evidence of control and monitoring processes. When shown where food is located in an array of hiding places, they immediately point to those places, but when they do not have this information, they look around for the food before pointing. Orangutans and some species of monkeys also show this pattern. Language-trained chimpanzees do their own variation of this task, naming hidden items when they have seen what was hidden earlier, but taking the time to look first when they are not sure what is hidden. Also, chimpanzees show confidence in their responses by how they move around the laboratory. When they play computer games in one location, but get fed treats for correct responses in another location, they walk over to the treat machine immediately more often when their response is correct than when it is incorrect. And, critically, they do this well before any feedback from the computer. Only their sense of correctness could guide such differential movement.

Results with monkeys and apes sometimes stand in contrast to results on the same tests given to pigeons. Where some apes and monkeys (but not all!) seem to monitor uncertainty, pigeons are less likely to do so. At the same time, it is important to note that in all species, including humans, there are individual differences in the responses that are made to escape, seek new information, re-study, or bet high versus low on one’s memory or perception.

There are critics who argue that no pattern of results supports a claim of metacognition in animals. No matter how much the animals’ performance mirrors that of humans, these critics claim that it must be caused by different processes. Mathematical models have been offered that account for one specific result, or perhaps two.

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