He may look sad to see you go but I'm sorry to say, when you leave the house… two minutes
later, your dog forgot that you were even there.
Before we get into animal memory, make sure you stay to the end of the video for a HUGE
announcement…
So, an elephant NEVER forgets.
Flipper!
No one you see, is smarter than he!
My dogs and cats miss me when I'm not there...
We are constantly personifying the smarts of our animal friends, but how would you actually
TEST this?
In a 2014 issue of Behavioural Processes, a researcher from Stockholm University tried
to do just that.
Using delayed matching-to-sample training, researchers tested the memory retention of
25 species including chimpanzees, dolphins, seals, crows, dogs, rats, macaques, capuchins,
pigeons, chickens, and bees.
They trained each animal to look at a colored light and then presented them with a choice
of two lights later.
If the animal "remembered" the correct light they were rewarded!
In this way, they could test over and over again and see how long an animal could remember
which one they'd seen first.
Rats performed the best when there was no delay at all, but dogs were the best as the
delay increased!
But don't get too excited.
It turns out, dogs have an arbitrary short-term memory of a little over two minutes and our
genetic cousin the chimpanzee was completely average at around a minute.
Humans, for comparison can easily complete this task 48 hours later.
The thing, is memory is really…
uh… what's the word?
DIFFICULT to test.
The researchers acknowledge this only really tests arbitrary short term memory.
Dolphins, who scored second, have been documented to recall the whistles of their friends even
20 years later.
Elephants can remember trauma, family members and friends over long periods as well.
So does my dog REALLY forget me?
Not REALLY.
This research shows that humans have a VERY adept arbitrary memory.
Matching a colored light doesn't really affect your survival, and yet for some reason, our
brain chooses to store the information.
Animals likely don't do that.
Where humans use episodic memory -- as in we understand what's happened, what's happening
now and what WILL happen in time -- animals learn behaviorally.
A dog knows it's time to eat, because it can sense how hungry it is, and on average, it's
been trained to receive food before work and after.
These and other researchers believe animals have an inferred memory; remembering things
that are relevant to their survival.
For example, a cat remembers where its food is when you go away for the weekend, but it
probably doesn't really know exactly how long you've been gone.
A cheetah may remember it had a kill this morning because he's still full of food, or
which female it mated with because its brain imprinted her scent so he spreads his genes
further, but he likely WON'T remember if it rained last week.
In the 1950s Psychologist George Miller determined humans can store seven "chunks" of information
in or short term memory; give or take.
But the problem is, the more we really dig into how memory works the more nebulous is
becomes.
Testing covert behavior -- or behavior we can't externally observe, is very problematic,
because we can't see inside their heads or ask them what they're thinking.
In the end, take any study like this with a grain of salt, even the researchers say
this is just one measure of memory.
So while your scent is probably imprinted on your pet as a member of its pack or family,
it doesn't remember that birthday card you bought her last year.
Instead, your pet is more concerned with things related to survival than the arbitrary joys
you personify, but that doesn't mean they don't care!
They just care differently than we do.
Now, that announcement I mentioned...
I'm really excited to announce the launch of our brand new sister show Seeker!
We take a science approach to the news, and they take a look at the more human side...Like
in this video here is about risky oil exploration in the Arctic!
Seriously!
It’s a fantastic brand spanking new show and I know
you're going to love it.
Evan and Lissette are the best.
So go click the first link in the description and check it out!
Thanks.