'Mirror test' reveals that horses are smarter than expected
If horses had toes: demonstrating mirror self recognition at group level in Equus caballus | SpringerLink
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-021-01502-7
Horses can recognize themselves in a mirror --new study
The mirror test marks the 'invisible parts' of the animal's body, such as the forehead and ears, and observes whether or not to pay attention to the marks reflected in the mirror. This is a test to examine 'the ability to recognize an image as oneself'. This test is used as a measure of the intelligence of animals, and it is known that animals such as large primates, dolphins, and fish pass the mirror test.
What is the psychological importance of the 'mirror test' to see if an animal recognizes 'self in the mirror'? --GIGAZINE
In this new study, horses were placed in a 20-meter-diameter circular enclosure for four days, 30 minutes a day, to investigate whether the horses passed the mirror test, and the horse's reaction to a 1.8-meter-wide mirror. Was observed. On the first day of the experiment, the research team turned the mirror's reflective surface to the outside of the circular enclosure to accustom the horse to the circular enclosure.
On the second day of the experiment, the mirror was turned to the inside of the circular enclosure, and when the mirror was covered (CM) and when the cover was removed (OM), 'Slective attention' of the horse paying attention to the mirror. 'And' the time it takes for the horse to look in the mirror (Exploration) 'was measured. The results show that the horse spends more time looking at the mirror and observing it when the mirror cover is removed.
On the third day of the experiment, the horse made a cross mark on the cheek that he could not see by himself with a colorless transparent gel, and measured the 'time to scratch the face' and 'time to scratch the body' in front of the mirror. .. In addition, on the 4th day of the experiment, a cross mark was placed on the cheek with a gel colored in yellow and blue, which are the colors that stand out for horses, and similarly, 'time to scratch the face' and 'time to scratch the body' in front of the mirror. I measured it.
The measurement result looks like this. The time to scratch the face (Face-SCR) was 1.29 seconds on average with the colorless and transparent mark (Sham), while it was 6.21 seconds with the colored mark (Mark). It was observed for a significantly longer time. In addition, no significant difference was observed between Sham and Mark in the time to scratch the body (Body-SCR). From this, the research team speculates that the horse 'recognized that the image in the mirror was himself and scratched a visible foreign object' and concluded that 'the horse has self-recognition ability'. I will.
On the other hand, because the mirror test is a visual-dependent test and the meaning of the word 'self-awareness' is ambiguous, I question the use of the mirror test as a criterion for measuring the presence or absence of self-awareness. There are also researchers.
'The study published this time does not show that horses have the ability to recognize themselves in the sense of'recognizing their own mind',' said Ali Boyle, a philosophical researcher at the University of Cambridge. , Has been shown to be self-aware in the sense of 'recognizing one's body objectively. Horses may be smarter than we think,' said the study. Explains the significance.
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