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4th upload

Page history last edited by ike sharpless 13 years, 6 months ago

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Link  Student  Comments 

Exploring Consciousness Through the Study of Bees

http://current.com/1rbf64c 

Benjamin Chapman This article is about honey bees and their level of consciousness.  This article depicts an experiment in which cylinders were staggered into mazes with multiple levels of "Y" or forked branch points.  The correct path was marked with a trail of colored markers with a reward consisting of sugar water.  Each bee had to follow the correct path in order to recieve the sugar water and even when the maze was switched around and made completely unfamiliar, the bees followed the correct color in order to make it to the sugar water.  This shows that honey bees have a memory of sorts, to which extent is still unclear, but we know that honey bees have the capabilites to develop sophisticated strategies.  On the second page of this article it also states that "The neural density in the bee’s brain is about 10 times higher than that in a mammalian ce­rebral cortex."  This is very interesting to realize when talking about animal consciousness because if this fact is true how exactly do we distinguish ourselves from insects?  I think that it is clear that the human designation of what is or isn't conscious is determined by our own bias understanding of actual conscious awareness, just because an animal may percieve their reality in a different way doesn't mean they are not fully conscious and aware of themselves in this world.
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wildlife-filmmaker-reveals-nature-fakery/story?id=11744728
Jessica Furtado
While watching Nightline I saw the interview that Nightline conducted with Chris Palmer. Palmer is a filmmaker who films wildlife "documentaries" that now appear to be more like mockumentaries. Palmer exposes the wildlife documentary industry claiming that he and many others have staged animal habitats and rented animals to film movies that deceive viewers into believing that the film that they are viewing is a true depiction of actual wildlife. Palmer's interview brings up many questions in regards to the treatment of animals as instruments in order for humans to obtain money through opportunities such as film making. Animals had to be trained, manipulated, tricked, etc. in order to make some "documentaries" possible. This touches on the topic of animal consciousness by showing how animals drives can be appealed to so that they will cooperate in the filming process and it also makes evident the fact that animals can learn to become actors, in a sense, by being trained to accept the presence of people and machines while also simulating "natural" behavior.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N6bDu49e-g&feature=related

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgh5OIRuGqk&feature=related

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3SNCM_QI9c&feature=related

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ieayQ6R9CE&feature=related

Alicia Robillon 

I found this four-part BBC series of videos on YouTube that seeks to answer the question, “Are animals conscious?” It is about a half hour long, but well worth watching since it is entertaining, intriguing, and informational. It relates to all three readings this week because it dives into the many questions raised about animal consciousness, awareness, and sentience. I liked that it focused on not only higher mammals, but other animals like bees as well. I personally think that animals are conscious beings and that some animals, because of brain size and other limitations biologically, are simply not able to be aware at the level that higher mammals and humans are—but that it does not mean that they are not aware in their own right. My own personal experiences with animals have biased me in some ways to believing this, but the level of awareness that even my dogs show is remarkable. My eldest dog, Cyrus (going on 12 years) has some sort of awareness of his surroundings. So if we drive to familiar locations around Methuen he is calm and relaxed, but if we get on the highway or drive out of this sphere of recognition he has anxiety about the unknowingness of his surroundings. My two younger dogs, Diesel (almost 2 years) and Cain (almost 1 year) do not show this level of awareness but do recognize when we are close to some of their favorite walking destinations like Forest Lake. This, at the very least, shows that they see and understand where they are and what the place means, whether positive or negative. These videos show some of this with other animals as well. I think that it is ethnocentric of humans to assume that animals cannot be aware at any level at all simply because we can’t read their minds. We should at least give them the same assumptions we give other humans, even though we cannot read other humans’ minds, and recognize that they must be conscious—at least at some level rather than no level at all.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8L4KNrPEs0&feature=fvw

 

Denise Belmonte
 This is a video about the intelligence of a raven. A simple experiment is performed by tying meat on a string and dangling it from a branch. The bird figured out how to retrieve the meat but looping and gathering the string around its feet. This behavior was not learned since the raven was never trained how to do it, and was not an instinct since this situation would not present itself in the wild. It can be concluded that this was a matter of logical thinking on the bird's part. The second part of this video shows the first raven hiding its loot from a second raven. In fact, when it thinks the second raven is watching, it pretends to hide it somewhere else. However, the second bird is just as intelligent, and manages to steal the food when the first raven is not looking. This is interesting because in a way, it shows that the bird has a sense of self. It recognizes that there is a second raven in the area that has the same interests as him. It also shows that the raven knows which part of the body is used to search for food, and is able to identify that body part on another raven.
http://www.slate.com/id/2192211/
Zachary Conroy
This is an article about cephalopod intelligence, specifically about octopuses. Even though we might lump them in with fish and and mollusks and not consider them to be an intelligent animal, octopuses have half a billion neurons, while mollusks only have about twenty thousand. The ratio of the size of their brain compared to their overall body weight is comparable to the ratio observed in humans and primates. Scientists have also observed complex lobes in their brains resembling the lobes unique to human beings. Octopuses have shown that they can learn and even display preferences when offered choices. They also demonstrate a form of handedness, which is a sign of complex brain processes, often favoring one eye or one side of their body as dominant.
 http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/white_shark/intelligence.htm Matt O'Donnell  This article is about whether or not the great white shark is intelligent.  The author argues that there are only two ways to measure animal intelligence.  The first way is in terms of speed or how long it takes for the animal to make a decision.  The second way is through adaptive fitness or the number of copies the animals genes survive in future generations.  The author talks about how difficult the great white is to study in the wild and how odd they behave in captivity, therefor it is difficult to measure the sharks intelligence.  Compared to humans though, the great white has a relatively small, but differently wired brain.  But to other sharks it has a medium sized and moderatly developed brain.  The author states that it is very difficult to measure and figure out the cognitive ability of the shark, but they have been around for more than 10 million years therefor fitting the author's theory of adaptive fitness.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4660924.ece
kevin bowers
This article is from an experiment that was done with an indian elephant in Tokyo japan, that test to see if elephants have any mathamatical  abilities. The Elephants were given math problems to solve using fruit as the object to be calculated.surprisingly elephants have a natural ability to solve math problems.the scientific community was not surprised however, according to them many "animals have been shown to possess basic counting abilities but most animals fail when the numbers get much bigger." i find this article interesting to sugggest that most animals, if not all animals have very basic concept of number and counting. This leads one to believe that numbers and math are not something that is unique only to humans but to animals in general.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201007/dogs-know-what-others-know-some-new-and-exciting-findings-about-our-best
Sarah Chaulk
This is an article done by psychologists on animals, in particular dogs, and their capacity for logical thought. The experiment provides solid evidence in favor of animals possessing higher thought processes. The dogs use logical thought in order to get a cookie when a human tells them "no" (read the article for the full experiment, its short). There are also links in the article about other psychological tests that show dogs and overcome fear and anxiety. It just shows that animals really do have a higher capacity for thought than they're given credit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOWnXJW9LjI   Christina Petrone  This is an interview of Marc Bekoff I found that really seems to pertain to a lot of the reading. He has written several books about animal behavior, emotions, play, and consciousness. He shares some of his animal stories in this interview.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/article6973994.ece
Danny Bauer

This article is about how Dolphins are considered highly intelligent and should be treated like non-human persons. Studies have shown that they are smarter than chimpanzees and are only next to humans in intelligence.  Studies have shown that dolphins have a strong sense of self and can think about the future. The bottlenose dolphin was shown to recognize itself in the mirror and learn behavior from other dolphins. There was a case that a dolphin was taught to tail walk while recuperating in a dolphinarium and when she was released they saw the behavior in other dolphins. Their brain in proportion to their bodies is big which implies that they are highly intelligent. I agree with the researchers in recognizing the dolphin as a non human person even though they are fish.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiGKWoJi5qM&feature=browch   Mario Boiardi  It would appear that animals, even those not regularly given credit for their sentience, can have emotions. Considering that this is a lion and therefore part of the big cat family, it has evolved primarily to hunt and survive. It is more than apparent that Christian the lion not only exhibits love, but the ability to recognize a person for which he has this "human" feeling. This may be attributed to his sense of smell or ability to differentiate specimens from a distance. Regardless, this does not change the obvious fact that the lion cares about this guy.  Sorry about the music...it's horrible, but you can mute it. 

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19826554.500-rats-feel-peer-pressure-too.html 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D85yrIgA4Nk&feature=related

Asma Hussin 

The first link is an interesting article on the behavior of rats taken from New Scientist. There was a study conducted that found that rats “succumb to peer pressure”, as they conform to the behavior of other rats.  A rat would eat food considered distasteful when other rats were seen as eating the same type of food.  The article mentioned that it has been found that humans and chimps are the only other animals that conform in a similar manner and that it is still unknown as to why rats do so. The second link is an interesting video on the unusual interaction between a rat, cat, and a dog.

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/09090914172644.htm 

 

"Evidence Points to Conscious 'Metacognition' in Some Nonhuman Animals"

Jenna David 

In this article metacognition refers to an organism’s ability to reflect upon, monitor, or regulate their state of mind. 

 

A study that was published in September of 2009 by a group of psychologists at the University at Buffalo showed that some animals share the characteristic of metacognition with humans. These animals included dolphins and macaque monkeys. Experiments were conducted to test an animal’s memory, perception, and ability to problem solve. When a dolphin was presented with a choice, it would hesitate and make what appears to be a thought out decision before acting.  Monkeys such as the macaques were trained to use joysticks and complete computer tasks. This study also mentions that it is very likely that dolphins and some monkeys have a sense of self awareness. This study ultimately takes away from the thought that human beings are “special”. If certain animals have a high level of intelligence, can reason, use tools, and do have a language of sorts, what makes them so different?   I think Singer's argument of specieism is clearly underlined with more and more research surfacing that proves what we think is individually "human" is not.

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090914172644.htm
Shannon Nelligan
This article reviews the findings in cognitive experiments performed on several species of animals. The study focuses on metacognitive capacity including consciousness, self awareness, and thoughtful decision making. The findings in this particular group of studies shows that dolphins and some species of monkeys have been shown to demonstrate self awareness parallel to that of a human being.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOrgOW9LnT4 Matthew Flynn  This video shows how chimps use problem solving skills to get to food hidden under a rock.  It shows that the chimp knows how to ask a human for help in moving the rock. In the video, they also show how chimps will help humans with certain tasks. Like if a human is trying to pick up an object that is out of reach, the chimp will realize this and get the object for the human. 
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/200907/do-animals-know-who-they-are   Nick Bouchard

In this article Marc Bekoff argues that some animals indeed have a sense of self and know what they are. He explains how a sense of “mine-ness” is how they know what they are, and that is in turn their sense of “self”. For example, many animals have a so-called sense of possession. They know that “this is my tail”, or “this is my territory”. Also, animals such as primates, elephants, and dolphins even recognize themselves when placed in front of a mirror. Bekoff calls for more careful studies in whether or not animals are self-aware, but it is a fact animals can feel pain and have a general regard to their well-being. Many animals also mark territories with urine, which proves that at least animals are conscious of other species or animals around them in the wild.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVs6XhF_45o  sam erickson 

This is a video of a squirrel going through an obstacle course and then being rewarded with a nut at the end of it.  Although it’s pretty funny to watch, it also shows some potential evidence that the squirrel is doing it because it knows what its reward is at the end.  So while the squirrel may not seem like the most complex animal, it can still recognize simple actions for rewards.

 
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/12/weekinreview/if-chickens-are-so-smart-why-aren-t-they-eating-us.html
Hali Vik

I uploaded a piece about chickens because I feel like people really underestimate them. I feel like I've been guilty of this to, because they aren't an animal that we are really allowed to connect with; in fact we've been taught not to. I mean, we are taught that they are simply a dietary necessity... We don't really consider where the nutrition comes from. Further, we discount it because we assume they are too dumb to feel. That said, apparently they have facial recognition! Who knew that chicken's have personal relationships with one another and have complex social groups. More complex then cats and almost as complex as dogs.They also have different warning calls if a predator is coming by land or sea! That's pretty neat.

 

Anyway, I feel like it's a pretty impressive piece... And given the special relativism that we are considering in this class, this article is worth a look. It certainly made me think more deeply about chickens.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19518-monkeys-bid-to-join-elite-selfawareness-club.html

 

"Monkeys bid to join elite self-awareness club" 

Kelley Irving  This article talks about the tests conducted to see if an animal is self aware. The most commonly used test is called the mark test, where an animal is sedated, placed with a mark on its face in front of a mirror. If the animal realizes that it has a mark on its face, it is self aware. The rhesus macaques monkey failed this test, but when a larger mark was used, seemed to pass. They placed a large skull cap on the monkeys head, the monkey would interact with the mirror. Scientists belive this is because the monkey can not only see it but can feel it on its head, telling it that it is not just another monkey it is seeing. The monkeys also used the mirrors to look at parts of their body that they cannot see otherwise.
http://discovermagazine.com/2010/mar/01-who-you-callin-bird-brain  Arian Alicea  This article is about a scientist's discovery of birds' actual consciousness. I chose this article because it shows how animals can be just as intelligent as humans. Without ever researching the subject,this information would be unknown to us. However, because of this, it's possible that other animals are just as coherent and we just don't know about it yet. 
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/article6973994.ece  richard ranlett 

I thought this was an interesting article because the main focus of the article was scientists stating that dolphins should be treated as “non-human persons.” If this were to actually happen, then I believe that there would be major changes for dolphins and other intelligent animals. The scientists were calling for an immediate end to all killing of dolphins for any reasons because you are doing the world a disservice by killing such intelligent animals. It is now evident that dolphins are even more intelligent than chimpanzees, and have the intelligence of a three-year-old human child. If intelligent animals can be placed on a pedestal, than I think that would be beneficial because they could not be harmed and could set a precedent to leave animals alone because they are so similar to us in so many ways. 

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/

article4595810.ece  

Heather McAtamney
This is an article that was by the Sunday Times that questions if animals have emotions. The article starts off by describing the death of infant gorilla and the mother's reaction to her loss. The article does not tell you immediately that it is a gorilla and not a human family. Readers begin to picture an woman who is overwhelmed by the loss of her child, but may be taken a back when it is revealed that it is in fact a gorilla. The article goes on to discuss if animals can relate to human emotions and if they have their own emotions. The point of view of the article appears to be in favor of the belief that animals, other than humans, can have and display emotions.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7541633.stm
Daniel Gougian

I originally read an article like this several years ago when this study first came out. Apparently dogs empathize with humans by yawning when we do. It is said yawn are corteges, apparently that is true for cross species.  Originally this thought to only be human to human or human to primate. It a social ques. According the scientist, dogs are apple to read human social ques.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m0XQ8nbdec  Jeffrey Nieves  This was an interview and a video about an intelligent parrot name Alex.  With the help of his owner he was able to learn the concept of colors, shapes, and matter.  Alex was given different objects and asked to identify the color and shape of it.  Alex succeeded at the tests over and over again and could even tell you what the object was made out of.  He learned that the category of "colors" are made up of a series of colors such as blue, green, and red.  Also he identified shapes by the number of sides it had; if it were a triangle he would say three, a square he would say four and so on.  This video showed that animals have the potential to learn and complete difficult tasks. 
 http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/en/pain/microsite/culture2.html
Theresa James
This is an interesting article I found on whether or not animals can feel pain, and at what level.  It has several arguments as to whether the level of an animals consciousness has an effect on the way they perceive pain.
     
     
     
     
     

 

 

 

Comments (2)

ike sharpless said

at 7:43 pm on Sep 29, 2010

the BBC video Alicia posted is an excellent overview of most of the topics we'll be discussing tomorrow -- I definitely recommend watching it.

ike sharpless said

at 9:57 pm on Sep 29, 2010

This is a good story I read a year or two ago about Christian the lion: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-452820/Christian-lion-lived-London-living-room.html

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