Class 5: Non-human “feats of intelligence” Flashcards
TRUE OR FALSE: In the study by Monero, Tangen and Reinhard, honeybees were unable to distinguish between Picasso and Monet paintings when images were presented in greyscale
FALSE - greyscale images had no impact on the ability to distinguish between paintings
In Monet and Picasso paintings animal testing process,Bees can judge which one is preferred by smell the feeder,is this true or false?
False,bees can’t see the feeder before they choose.
Have chimpanzees shown evidence that they can prepare for 2 mutually exclusive future outcomes?
No they have not shown they can do so (But this does not mean that they cannot)
What does nested scenario building allow humans to do?
Enables us to plan and prepare for opportunities and threats before they materialise.
Question: What are the things that other than animals are attuned to long-term regularities such as day-night rhythms, and many can adjust to local patters as well?
bacteria
How is the ability to create and communicate abstract representations related to language?
The ability to create and communicate abstract representations is closely tied to our use of language. Language allows us to create and communicate complex abstract representations, such as concepts and ideas, that are not immediately present in the world. This ability is closely tied to mental time travel, as humans use mental simulations to create and test out different abstract representations. Over time, this ability to create and communicate abstract representations has allowed humans to develop complex societies and cultures, and has been a key driver of our cognitive evolution.
What were the specific methods used by Wu et al. (2013) to test the ability of honeybees to discriminate between paintings by famous artists such as Monet and Picasso?
A classical conditioning approach. They trained honeybees to associate one of the two paintings with a sugary reward, and then tested the bees’ ability to recognize and distinguish between the paintings without the presence of the reward.
Which feature always human to imagine future novel scenarios
Nested scenario building
Explain how NSB corresponds to an internal theatre analogy
The elements within NSB corresponds to elements of a theatre: Stage = imagining event/situation Actors & sets = individuals and objects involved Directors = managing & evaluating scenes Executive producer = making the final decision of given options
True or False: In Wen Wu et.al experiment, the researchers found that when a greyscale is applied to the visual stimuli, bees were not able to discriminate between the images.
False: The researchers investigated if bee used colour as a discrimination cue and found that the bees discrimination performance was as food as the colour versions; there was no effect for colour.
True or False? Honeybees can only discriminate between the specific painting they have been trained to recognise and are unable to generalise different artistic styles.
FALSE
TRUE or FALSE: Through associative learning, animals can predict that a reward or punishment is coming after a specific event
True
What are the two dimensions that humans differ with animals in respect of human cognition?
1) imagination and manipulation of a range of possibilities and outcomes from nested scenario forming relationships to connected events. 2) Drive to exchange thoughts with others.
Animal and human cognition differ in two profound dimensions. What are these two distinct human features?
- Complex scenario building 2. Exchanging thoughts with others
Define the term “Cross-modal Perception”.
Cross-modal perception — The ability of an organism to integrate information from different sensory modalities, such as visual and olfactory cues, to form a coherent perception of the environment.
Which two unique features helped transform capacities into abilities of the mind that set humans apart from the animal world?
- Nested scenario building: The technique of creating nested scenarios enables us to envision multiple possible scenarios, each with distinct outcomes, and incorporate them into a broader storyline that interconnects various events. 2. The urge to connect: the human drive to exchange thoughts with others, enabling achievements beyond the abilities of lone individuals.
How would a scientist definitively prove an ability is absent in an animal?
To prove an ability is absent in an animal, a scientist must test all animals, at all times, on some fool-proof task.
Yes or No. Based on the ‘Animal Minds’ video, can pigeons form mental concepts?
Yes, the ‘Animal Minds’ video found that pigeons could form mental concepts.
Define: Operant conditioning.
Operant conditioning is a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened or weakened by the consequences that follow it. In the study by Wu et al., honeybees were trained using operant conditioning to associate a specific painting with a sugar reward.
In Reddish’s(1999) television broadcast of animal minds, why could the pigeon guess correctly when there would be a tone after which images were shown but the university students couldn’t?
The reason for this is because humans search for meanings for relationships, thus we fail to see the simple solution.
Are humans specialists or generalists?
Both. Humans are able to generalize as a species, but quickly adapt to ones environment by learning the needed expertise.
n the study on honeybee’s ability to recognize paintings, what was the bees’ task? A) To distinguish between paintings created by Monet and Picasso B) To fly towards the painting by a specific artist C) To identify whether the painting was abstract or realistic D) To detect the presence of a certain color in the painting
A) To distinguish between paintings created by Monet and Picasso
Fill in the blanks: it is fair to assume that honey bees do not rely on elemental features such as L——-, C—-, or Salient e—. It is more likely they use feature e——.
it is fair to assume that honey bees do not rely on elemental features such as Luminance, Colour or Salient edges It is more likely they use feature extraction.
According to Wu et al, which sense is highly important to the “perception of biologically relevant stimuli”? A) Scent detection B) Sound C) Vision D) Touch
C) Vision
Define what ‘nested scenario building’ is
A cognitive ability in which humans are able to envision and mentally manipulate many possible situations and anticipate different outcomes.
How does ‘generalisation’ help bees in their lives?
Generalisation enables bees to successfully forage on an ever-changing environment, since it allows adaptive responses to novel objects.
What is the significance of this study for our understanding of non-human animal cognition?
This study provides evidence that even animals with relatively simple nervous systems, such as honeybees, are capable of sophisticated cognitive tasks such as visual discrimination and categorization. The ability of the bees to recognize and distinguish between complex visual stimuli suggests that their cognitive abilities are more complex than previously thought, and may be related to their role as pollinators. This study adds to a growing body of research that suggests that non-human animals have cognitive abilities that are more advanced than previously thought, and highlights the importance of considering the perspectives of other species in our understanding of cognition.
True or false? The capacity for discrimination of artistic style is limited to only humans.
FALSE
Which of the following statements is true about the study’s findings? A) Honeybees were unable to discriminate between any of the paintings presented. B) Honeybees were able to recognize some but not all of the paintings presented. C) Honeybees were able to discriminate between paintings by both Monet and Picasso. D) The study did not provide any conclusive findings on the bees’ ability to recognize paintings.
Honeybees were able to discriminate between paintings by both Monet and Picasso.
In regards to the second pattern test where some patterns were followed by a tone and some weren’t, why were pigeons able to perform better on this task than humans?
Humans tend to search for meaning and relationships, often failing to see the simple solution. In this case, the simple solution was the visual distinction between large and small areas, which the pigeons could quickly discern.
Why the nested scenario building is risky?
This is because competence at foresight emerges slowly as we mature and moreover, humans are not perfect, we still make mistakes to anticipate future situations accurately.
What was the major finding in the study conducted by Wu and others on honeybees?
That they could distinguish and generalise between artistic representation styles proving the extent of their visual capabilities. This advances previous research of simply recognising and attraction to flower paintings compared to other artistic representations.
True or False; Pigeons could distinguish between the painting styles of artists such as Monet and Picasso
TRUE
How have mental time travel and the ability to create and communicate with imagined realities contributed to the development of human language and culture?
These features have enabled humans to share and shape collective beliefs and cultural practices, which have contributed to the development of human language and culture.
What method did the researchers use to train the honeybees to recognize the paintings?
The researchers used a classical conditioning method to train the honeybees to associate a reward with a particular painting.
What are two reasons why the bee’s ability to generalize stimuli might not have been as statistically strong? considering that bee’s employ generalization regularly when foraging and pollinating.
Results may not have been so strong due to the training regime implemented, specifically due to the length of training period’s and procedural exposure to novel and coded stimuli for each bee.
While researchers have determined that humans and animals share many cognitive capacities, which two features of the mind set humans apart from other animals?
The capacity to build nested scenarios, and the urge to connect our minds with others.
According to Prof John Pearce, why are humans typically slower than pigeons at a visual task where the underlying rule is discriminating images with small areas of colour from images with large areas of colour? A) because pigeons have an additional cone in their eyes making them more able to detect colour b) because pigeons have laterally placed eyes which allow them to measure area faster than humans c) because humans typically look for more meaningful explanations for the differences in images
c
According to Suddendorf what are the two defining characteristics, within cognitive capacity, that separate humans from other species.
- The urge to connect 2. Nested scenario building
two dimensions that separate human cognition from animals
the ability to form nested scenarios, our drive to exchange thoughts/information with others.
What is the likely method honeybees use to learn visual characteristics shared across the paintings of one category?
Feature extraction and/or configural processing. This is consistent with the way honeybees are thought to process human faces, forest scenes/landscapes, and solve novel visual tasks.
What are the 2 Transformational Traits humans possess which sets us apart from the animal world?
- Nested scenario building abilities 2. The urge to connect
What was found to be a common feature of visual processing across species?
The ability to detect subtle differences in spatial arrangement of colors
True or False: Honey bees are able to discriminate painting by Monet and Picasso, but they rely on colour as a discrimination cue
False. The study was repeated using greyscale versions of the paintings and their discrimination performance was as good as the colour versions
How did the researchers test the honeybees ability to discriminate between Monet and Picasso paintings?
The researcher trained the honeybees to associate either Monet or Picasso paintings with a sugary reward. Then they presented the bees with a series of paintings by both artists and measured their ability to recognize and choose the correct paintings associated with the reward.
What is the meaning of generalisation?
Generalisation is a fundamental cognitive process that allows for categorising and classifying similar stimuli according to their shared characteristic. As one may identify the stimuli as equivalent, they may evoke similar responses to each of them.
What is the ‘Nested Scenario Building’?
It is a cognitive process that allows humans to imagine several alternative situations that helps us to anticipate and plan for potential future outcomes.
How do the honey bees distinguish Picasso and Monet’s art pieces?
By extracting and understanding the the varying characteristics and visual information that is showcased in each painting style.
True or False: In experiments by Professor John Pierce from Cardiff University in Wales, pigeons were able to learn that a Picasso but not a Monet painting will lead to food. But when presented with images of two bars of different heights, they do not learn that only bars that are equal in height, and not unequal bars, are followed by a tone.
true
What are the features of human transformative traits?
The first one is nest scenario building which allow us to imagine several alternative situations,some with different outcomes and embed them into a larger narrative of connected events.The second feature is the urge to connected events.The second feature is the urge to connect,the human drive to exchange thoughts with others and enable achievement beyond the abilities of lone individual.
Why do pigeons perform better than humans in some simplified visual pattern-recognition tests?
A pigeon quickly forms a concept of what it sees based on simple visual traits: size, shape, colour. Humans do this too, but then also apply logic and intuition to understand those elements. If the answer is simple, humans may “overthink” the solution by trying to discern a meaning to the patterns where there are none.
How did researchers train honeybees to distinguish between Monet and Picasso paintings?
Researchers trained honeybees to associate either Monet or Picasso paintings with a reward, and then presented the bees with a choice between the two paintings without any reward. The bees were able to correctly identify and choose the painting associated with the reward only.
__________ is the capacity for creative thinking and the ability to come up with novel ideas and solutions.
Open-ended generative thought
In the Animal Minds video, which abstract patterns were pigeons able to discern. The greater than or equal bars, or small area of colour compared to large areas of colour?
Small area of colour compared to large areas of colour. Pigeons were unable to determine if bars were of equal or greater length.
What type of paintings were used in the study? A) Realistic portraits B) Abstract landscapes C) Impressionist paintings D) Surrealist paintings
C) Impressionist paintings.
True or False: When bees were trained to discriminate a Monet painting from a Picasso painting, both the Monet-rewarded and the Picasso-rewarded group of bees learned to discriminate between the paintings.
TRUE
According to Suddendorf (2018), children start to intentionally shape their own future abilities around what age?
Children start to intentionally shape their own future abilities around the age of four or five.
Which one of these domains of cognitive capacity is NOT shared between humans and animals: a) social reasoning, b) empathy, c) Mental time travel, d) communication
c) Mental time travel
Define ‘Nested Scenario Building’
It is a feature of the human mind which allows us to imagine several alternative (possible) solutions and embed them into a larger narrative
Animal and Human cognition differ in two profound dimensions. What are these two dimensions?
- The ability to form nested scenarios 2. The urge to connect / our drive to exchange our thoughts with others
Fill in the blank. The ability to ___, or imagine past and future events, allows humans to think and communicate about things that are not immediately present in the environment.
mentally time travel
Can honeybees tell the difference between paintings by Monet and Picasso?
Yes, honeybees can discriminate between paintings by Monet and Picasso, even when the colors are removed.
Define deliberate practice
rehearsal of actions aimed at improving future performance.
Cognitive capacities shared by animals and humans
domains of communication, memory, social reasoning, tradition, empathy.
True or False: Humans are can categorise all the same images that pigeons can categorise and some.
False - Humans have a tendency to over complicate the images and can try and determine an abstract relationship within the image that is not there. Where as a pigeon will think on a slightly more basic scale and see the picture as it is which can lead to it seeing the pattern that humans can’t. Refer to the youtube video.
True or False: In the paper ‘Honeybees can discriminate between Monet and Picasso paintings’, the bees used colour to discriminate between paintings
False: Trials were done using grayscale paintings and the bees were also able to discriminate
True or False: In the Wu et al. (2012) study, the researchers found that there was a main effect of colour with regards to the honeybees’ ability to distinguish between Monet and Picasso paintings.
False. Colour was found to not have an effect on the honeybees’ performance, as evidenced via the greyscale variation of the experiment.
What is mental time travel and how does it relate to the human mind?
Mental time travel is the ability to mentally project oneself into the past and future, allowing humans to plan, reflect on past experiences, and envision alternative scenarios. This ability is thought to be a key feature of the human mind that distinguishes it from the minds of other animals.
What are the two unique human features that set us apart from the animal world? Give brief explanation
(1) Nested scenario building, which allows us to imagine alternative situations and help us come up with various outcomes. (2) The urge to connect, which allows us to exchange thoughts with others and create greater outcomes than what one individual can do alone.
Fill in the blank: The two features that neurologically set humans apart from animals are __ and __. A) social reasoning, physical reasoning B) mental time travel, empathy C) abstract explanations and prediction, morality D) nested scenario building, urge to connect
D) nested scenario building, urge to connect
What does Suddendorf mean by human capacity of “nested scenario building”?
Imagining alternative situations, reflecting upon them and weaving them into a larger scheme of related events.
What does “nested scenario building” allow us to do?
This feature allows us to imagine several alternative situations, some with different outcomes, and embed them into a larger narrative of connected events.
A study conducted by Suddendorf and Redshaw from UQ demonstrated that while dropping a treat down an upside-down Y-shaped tube, the apes would only ever cover one exit (consequently, only catching 50% of the treats). What does this appear to demonstrate a lack of?
Contingency planning - the ability to understand and prepare for multiple future outcomes. Which seems to be a uniquely human capacity, but absence of evidence is not evidence of absence! So, unless all animals are tested under “perfect” conditions, we are yet to know for sure.
True or false,recursive syntax is the ability to generate an infinite number of sentences from a finite set of rules. This ability allows humans to create and understand complex language.
TRUE
What is the bystander effect?
The bystander effect is a phenomenon in which individuals are less likely to offer help in an emergency situation when other people are present.
What is the trait that enables us to plan and prepare for opportunities and threats before they materialise?
Nested Scenario Building.
Define Nested Scenario Building
Nested Scenario Building is our ability to imagine alternative situations, such as, imagining others’ situations, contemplating moral conundrums, constructing fictional scenarios AND as well, thinking ahead (picturing potnetial future events, reflecting on possible contingencies)
True or false: four-year olds and apes do NOT differ in their ability to “prepare” for multiple possible future outcomes of an event (the ability to construct contingency plans).
False: While apes and two-year olds generally DO NOT show the ability to construct contingency plans, four-year olds DO show this ability.
Do pigeons have concept when given a new set of images it has never seen before?
Yes, the pigeon compares new images with the mental concept (such as a tree) and correctly rejects images that do not match.
What are the two important features to create the human minds?
- Nested scenario building 2. The urge to connect
According to the Youtube clip, ‘Animal Minds,’ is it found that pigeons have a mental concept of ‘trees’?
Yes, the experimenter shows the pigeons different images and the pigeon has the capacity to understand which images show trees and which do not (e.g., ferns instead of trees).
True or False: It is important to pair the Urge to Connect and Nested Scenario Building together to achieve optimal outcomes.
True.
Generalization
A fundamental cognitive capacity that allows classifying or categorizing similar stimuli according to shared characteristics, treating similar stimuli as equivalents, and thus representing them in the same manner
Why did humans fail the final question in the “Animal Minds” video as compared to pigeons?
Humans look for meanings and for relationships in data, which is why they struggle to identify the simple visual solution of area size.
What does Wu et al. (2013) suggest about bees’ visual capacities and pattern recognition abilities?
That bees have impressive pattern recognition abilities and can discriminate between complex images irrespective of biological relevance, illustrating the extent of bees’ visual capacities.
What allows bees to adaptive response to novel objects? A,Bees just simply memorized different colour cues and colour combinations for each individual painting and relied exclusively on this information during discrimination. B,Salient edges of different paintings. C,During foraging, honeybees learn the characteristics of rewarding flowers and use this knowledge classifying or categorizing similar stimuli according to shared characteristics
C,During foraging, honeybees learn the characteristics of rewarding flowers and use this knowledge classifying or categorizing similar stimuli according to shared characteristics
True or False. In the paper written by Suddendorf, a group of apes and children were compared on their contingent planning ability. Both the apes and two-year-old children responded to the Y-shaped tube problem similarly.
True. The difference in response was only shown in the four-year-old children, as they consistently covered both ends of the tube exit, while the apes and two-year-old children only covered one end of the tube.
Why were the pigeons able to successfully perform in the “colour area” test but not the “equal bar” test?
The pigeons do not have any grasp on abstract concepts such as “equal to” or “greater than”, however they can visually distinguish between large and small areas.
What are the stimuli used as cues by the honeybees in Wu et al’s study to distinguish between Picasso’s and Monet’s paintings?
Luminance, colour combinations, and salient edges.
What does the abilities of honeybees to distinguish paintings suggest about humans?
That discrimination of artistic styles may not be a higher cognitive function that is unique to humans, but may simply be due to the capacity of animals, from insects to humans, to extract and categorize the visual characteristics of complex images.
How does the ability to mentally time travel differ between humans and other animals?
Humans are the only animals known to have the ability to mentally time travel in a flexible and sophisticated way, while other animals may only have limited forms of episodic-like memory.
What are two key differences between animal and human cognition?
Animals lack the ability to form nested scenarios (i.e. mentally simulate and manipulate possible outcomes). 2: Animals lack the urge to connect (i.e. the drive to exchange thoughts with others).
What information did the honeybees not rely on for discrimination? a. Luminance b. Color c. Spatial frequency d. All of the above
d. All of the above
Nested scenario building allows us the ability to: A. imagine alternative situations, reflect on them, and embed them into larger narratives of related events, B. imagine other people’s situations, moral conundrums, or entirely fictional stories, C. plan and prepare for opportunities and threats before they materialise, D. all of the above
D. All of the above. Nested scenario building allows us to use our abilities of imagination, memory, reflection, and executive decision-making to bring situations to life and provide foresight.
True or false: Honeybees were able to generalize their ability of discriminating between two painting styles to novel paintings. This result was statistically significant.
False, while there was some evidence that honeybees are able to generalize their ability to discriminate paining styles with novel stimuli, this was NOT statistically significant overall.
True or false: honey bees ability to differentiate Monet and Picasso is likely due to them using feature extraction and/or configural processing to learn the visual characteristics that are shared across the paintings of one category.
True.
Fill in the blank. In the video ‘Animal Minds’ it was shown that pigeons have concepts but struggle with _________________
Abstract Thinking. As evidenced by the fact that pigeons could discriminate between patterns of shapes and colours, but could not when the pattern was the same colour as greater than, less than or equal.
Fill in the blank: According to Suddendorf, two key features that created the human mind are the ability to mentally time travel and to ___________.
Imagine alternative realities.
What does the study suggest about the cognitive abilities of animals?
The study suggests that animals, including insects like honeybees, have the ability to extract and categorize visual information from complex images. This ability is not unique to humans and suggests that animals have more advanced cognitive abilities than previously thought. The study also suggests that animals may use underlying visual regularities to categorize images, rather than relying on specific features like color or luminance.
What are the two significant characteristics that have historically been thought to be unique to humans?
- complex scenario building - nested scenarios allow us to envision and mentally manipulate many situations and anticipate different outcomes 2. exchanging thoughts with others, which enables achievements beyond the abilities of lone individuals
What was the purpose of Wu et al.’s (2013) study?
They wanted to find out if bees could differentiate between paintings of different artistic styles. Given the complexity of the paintings used and the fact that they serve no biological relevance to honeybees, the study serves to demonstrate the extent of bees’ visual capacities and impressive pattern recognition abilities
Explain two profound dimensions in which humans differ from animals in cognition. (Reference Suddendorf, T. (2018))
- Humans can form nested scenarios. 2. The human drive to communicate ideas with others.
Where was the experiment, Honeybees can discriminate between Monet and Picasso paintings conducted?
This experiment was conducted in an indoor flight facility with controlled temperature and illumination at the Queensland Brain Institute, Australia.
Honeybees’ ability to distinguish between paintings by Picasso and Monet are mainly due to the colours each artists uses
FALSE
What does Thomas Suddendorf say is one of the main difficulties with establishing what sets humans and animals apart? A) the fundamental problem of showing the absence of a capacity, b) the fundamental problem with showing the presence of a capacity, c) the fact that animals cannot just tell us what they know, d) the fact that (human) babies cannot just tell us what they know
a
Is it true or false that honeybees can differentiate between paintings made by Monet and Picasso?
True. The journal article “Honeybees can discriminate between Monet and Picasso paintings” reports on a study that found honeybees can be trained to distinguish between the paintings of Monet and Picasso.
In ‘Animal Minds’, why do humans have trouble distinguishing between pattern of small or large areas, while the pigeons do not?
Humans search for meaning and relationships, failing to see simple solutions.
In Professor John Pearce’s video ‘Animal minds’, how does the professor first demonstrate that pigeons can learn concepts?
By conditioning the pigeon to associate pictures of equal levels of bar graphs + a noise with food
What are the two distinct features of the human mind as posited by Suddendorf (2018)?
Complex scenario building & Exchanging thoughts with others