Can Rats Reason?

Since at least the mid-1980s claims have been made for rationality in rats. For example, that rats are capable of inferential reasoning (Blaisdell, Sawa, Leising, & Waldmann, 2006; Bunsey & Eichenbaum, 1996), or that they can make adaptive decisions about future behavior (Foote & Crystal, 2007), or that they are capable of knowledge in propositional-like form (Dickinson, 1985). The stakes are rather high, because these capacities imply concept possession and on some views (e.g., Rödl, 2007; Savanah, 2012) rationality indicates self-consciousness. I evaluate the case for rat rationality by analyzing 5 key research paradigms: spatial navigation, metacognition, transitive inference, causal reasoning, and goal orientation. I conclude that the observed behaviors need not imply rationality by the subjects. Rather, the behavior can be accounted for by noncognitive processes such as hard-wired species typical predispositions or associative learning or (nonconceptual) affordance detection. These mechanisms do not necessarily require or implicate the capacity for rationality. As such there is as yet insufficient evidence that rats can reason. I end by proposing the ‘Staircase Test,’ an experiment designed to provide convincing evidence of rationality in rats

Colour Perception: It s All in the Mind

9 page(s

Mirror self-recognition and symbol-mindedness

The view that mirror self-recognition (MSR) is a definitive demonstration of self-awareness is far from universally accepted, and those who do support the view need a more robust argument than the mere assumption that self-recognition implies a self-concept (e.g. Gallup in Socioecology and Psychology of Primates, Mouton, Hague, 1975; Gallup and Suarez in Psychological Perspectives on the Self, vol 3, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, 1986). In this paper I offer a new argument in favour of the view that MSR shows self-awareness by examining the nature of the mirror image itself. I argue, using the results of 'symbol-mindedness' experiments by Deloache (Trends Cogn Sci 8(2):66-70, 2004), that where self-recognition exists, the mirror image must be functioning as a symbol from the perspective of the subject and the subject must therefore be 'symbol-minded' and hence concept possessing. Further to this, according to the Concept Possession Hypothesis of Self-Consciousness (Savanah in Conscious Cogn 2011), concept possession alone is sufficient to demonstrate the existence of self-awareness. Thus MSR as a demonstration of symbol-mindedness implies the existence of self-awareness. I begin by defending the 'mark test' protocol as a robust methodology for determining self-recognition. Then follows a critical examination of the extreme views both for and against the interpretation of MSR as an indication of self-awareness: although the non-mentalistic interpretation of MSR is unconvincing, the argument presented by Gallup is also inadequate. I then present the symbol-mindedness argument to fill in the gaps in the Gallup approach.17 page(s

Book review : 'Seven puzzles of thought and how to solve them : an originalist theory of concepts'

A book review of 'Seven Puzzles of Thought And How to Solve Them: An Originalist Theory of Concepts' by Sainsbury, R. M. and Michael Tye, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012, ISBN 9780199695317.2 page(s

A Response to Dow's and Musholt's commentaries on the concept possession hypothesis of self-consciousness

DOI of original article: 10.1016/j.concog.2011.05.004 Reply to commentaies on Dow, J.M. (2012). Self-consciousness and concepts. Consciousness and Cognition, 21,723-724; Musholt, K. (2012). Concepts or metacognition – What is the issue? Commentary on Stephane Savanah’s ‘‘The concept possession hypothesis of self-consciousness’’, Consciousness and Cognition,21, 725-726. This article is part of a special issue of this journal on Standing on the Verge: Lessons and Limits from the Empirical study of Consciousness.2 page(s

The Concept possession hypothesis of self-consciousness

This paper presents the hypothesis that concept possession is sufficient and necessary for self-consciousness. If this is true it provides a yardstick for gauging the validity of different research paradigms in which claims for self-consciousness in animals or human infants are made: a convincing demonstration of concept possession in a research subject, such as a display of inferential reasoning, may be taken as conclusive evidence of self-consciousness. Intuitively, there appears to be a correlation between intelligence in animals (which presupposes concept possession) and the existence of self-consciousness. I present three discussions to support the hypothesis: an analogy between perception and conception, where both are self-specifying; an argument that any web of concepts will always include the self-concept; and a fresh interpretation of Bermũdez (1998) showing how his theory of non-conceptual content provides strong support for the concept possession hypothesis.8 page(s

The threshold of self-consciousness

Bibliography: pages 221-242.Part 1: The nature of self-consciousness -- 1. The self and self-consciousnes -- 2. Introspection and the fundamental dichotomy -- 3. The concept possession hypothesis of self-consciousness -- 4. Evidence of concept possession -- Part 2: Empirical studies of self-consciousness -- 5. Mirror self recognition -- 6. Imitation -- 7. Episodic memory -- 8. Rats and rationality -- 9. Closing comments.This thesis is about self-consciousness and how we might be able to determine its existence in non-human animals and human infants. By 'self-consciousness' I mean something very like the type of self-consciousness possessed by normal human adults. I examine the nature of self-consciousness, explore the connection between self-consciousness and concept possession, and review research into animal and infant self-consciousness. I conclude that there are ways to determine the existence of self-consciousness in animals based on observations of their behaviour, and that sufficient evidence exists to conclusively ascribe self-consciousness to chimpanzees. Furthermore, there are strong indications that self-consciousness is probably possessed by dolphins, elephants and some corvid species such as magpies and scrub jays. This thesis is divided into two main parts. Part 1 (chapters 1-4) is mostly theoretical. In part 1 I discuss the nature of self-consciousness and how we can tell it is possessed by an organism. Part 2 (chapters 5-8) applies this analysis in the evaluation of various research paradigms on self-consciousness in animals and human infants. I conclude the thesis with chapter 9, in which I summarise the main arguments and conclusions presented and offer some thoughts about future research. In chapter 1 I define and defend my conception self-consciousness, which I encapsulate as an understanding of one's own existence as a psychological subject with intentional agency. I also briefly review several research paradigms and foreshadow the conclusions reached in part 2. In chapter 2 I explore some central issues in the philosophy of self-consciousness and find a common thread, a Fundamental Dichotomy between relationalism, which sees self-consciousness as always involving a relation between a subject and a mental state, and intrinsicism, which regards self-consciousness as immediate and unmediated. Relationalism is the correct position for a self-concept while intrinsicism holds only for non-conceptual self-access. This position suggests the hypothesis that concept possession alone is sufficient for self-consciousness. I explain and defend this hypothesis in chapter 3 and suggest that it provides a yardstick for gauging the validity of research into self-consciousness. In chapter 4 I discuss ways in which concept possession might be determined: propositional thinking, rationality and symbol-mindedness are all indicators of concept possession. These are difficult to conclusively determine since I advocate that we must keep the standard of evidence high. Nevertheless, in a few studies there is good reason to believe that the standard has been met, as discussed in Part 2. The Concept Possession Hypothesis (CPH) may be considered controversial by some readers. Nevertheless, I do not rely on it exclusively in part 2 and readers who remain unconvinced by the hypothesis will still find much of interest in part 2. In chapter 5 I use CPH to argue that chimpanzees are self-conscious on the basis of their being demonstrably concept possessing. An interim conclusion is that chimpanzees are symbol-minded, which is significant in its own right. In chapter 6 I evaluate the various paradigms for studying imitation and conclude that selective imitation is evidence of theory of mind and hence self-consciousness, a conclusion that is consistent with CPH. Chapter 7 is devoted to exploring the connection between memory and self-consciousness and, based on episodic memory studies, I come to the conclusion that there is good evidence that scrub jays are self-aware. In chapter 8 I concentrate on one species, rats, and examine a range of research paradigms purporting to demonstrate rat rationality. Detailed analyses of these experiments leads me to conclude that rationality need not be invoked to explain the results, which can all be accounted for using associative and other non-conceptual theories.Mode of access: World Wide Web.1 online resource (x, 242 pages) illustration

The application of 3D printing in anatomy education

Modern medical education relies on a wealth of resources as one of the key elements in developing students’ clinical competencies. Acquiring these resources represents a considerable challenge for many medical schools, not only for financial but also a variety of other reasons, including ethical, legal, and cultural. Obtaining human tissue, in particular, faces many constraints, which, in some countries and cultural circles, create serious problems for medical educators. However, modern technology seems to offer solutions in acquisition of at least some of the resources. Among the new technologies that have in recent years entered the biomedical fields in research, practice, and education are the rapid prototyping techniques, particularly as applied in three-dimensional (3D) printing (1, 2). In this paper, using an example from Australia's Macquarie University and Western Sydney University, we outline how 3D printing can be successfully used in anatomy education. Utilisation of 3D printing is a part of the long-term educational project at both these institutions, including fields as diverse as medicine, arts, and sciences. In anatomy, the first stage of the project, described here, focused on producing highly accurate 3D prints of human bones.3 page(s