Sunday, 16 July 2017

Ravens ignore a treat in favor of a useful tool for the future

quote [ Two cognitive scientists at Lund University in Sweden, Can Kabadayi and Mathias Osvath, conducted a series of experiments with five captive, hand-raised ravens.

First, the ravens had to be given an experience they could plan for. They learned how to operate a puzzle box that opened to yield a reward, but the box could only be opened with a specific tool. The next day, they were shown the puzzle, loaded with food, but no tool. Only an hour later they were shown a tray of objects, including the tool, and given the opportunity to choose just one thing. Fifteen minutes later, the puzzle came back, and if the raven had chosen the right tool, they could open it. ]

I JOECAM THIS STUFF! /15 chars
[SFW] [environment & nature] [+4 Interesting]
[by knumbknutz@3:03pmGMT]

Comments

Dienes said @ 5:07pm GMT on 16th Jul
Like it says at the end of the article, this is similar (but not identical) to the famous Marshmallow Test with young children. (I wonder if that is where they get the 15m delay from).If a 5-year old can choose the 15m wait over the immediate treat, they tend to do better in school, have a lower BMI, don't get into legal trouble as much, have a higher income, etc. They do this test with pigeons and rats, too.

Interestingly, if you offer a human 3 choices: a small reward now, a larger reward after sitting quietly, and a a larger reward after doing some tedious, unpreferred task, many will prefer doing a tedious task over just chilling with their own thoughts, for the same reward. In fact, giving a tedious task can shift their preference from the immediate reward to the more delayed one. Teaching them to do the puzzle may have TAUGHT self-control, to some extent.
HoZay said @ 5:52pm GMT on 16th Jul
Has anyone offered those three choices, but with the largest reward for sitting quietly?
Dienes said @ 6:02pm GMT on 16th Jul
Hmmm, interesting question. Typically the reward for sitting quietly and the reward for doing the tedious task are equal, and 7-12 times the size/magnitude/quantity of the smaller, immediate reward. I don't know off the top of my head if there's any that had 3 reward levels with the largest for waiting - nothing comes to mind.

What I do know is that when given the option of sitting quietly for 10 minutes, or periodically shocking themselves during the 10 minutes, most people prefer to shock themselves.
HoZay said @ 6:22pm GMT on 16th Jul
Stop that internal dialogue, anything will do.
mechanical contrivance said @ 1:40pm GMT on 17th Jul
I'm perfectly fine with being alone with my own thoughts. Maybe that's not as common as I assume it is.
HoZay said @ 1:47pm GMT on 17th Jul
Me too, but I think that distraction from being present is 90% of tv/radio/internet.

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