tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1602499856115955318.post6184519549975019061..comments2023-10-28T15:48:58.358+02:00Comments on Like Gold and Faceted: Apophenia, take 2Mean 3Monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08043494488087761724noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1602499856115955318.post-56529655403553559772007-10-03T02:27:00.000+02:002007-10-03T02:27:00.000+02:00I don't think the sensory system used by the rat i...I don't think the sensory system used by the rat impacts my argument regarding the associative power of the rat brain. However, I think you doubts regarding the Morris water maze are misplaced. The rat isn't smelling or tasting anything distinctive in a pool of milky water. I'm sure you can confirm from personal experience that the sound made as you swim is basically independent of the depth of the water or the distance to the edge of the pool. And water feels like water feels like water. Moreover, if you rotate the distal visual cues in the room, the rat will immediately search the region of the pool corresponding to the shifted visual cues, rather than the actual (unchanged) location of the platform. While experiments always face the risk of confounds, the Morris water maze is pretty much water-tight.Mean 3Monkeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08043494488087761724noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1602499856115955318.post-66273520068652277992007-10-03T02:02:00.000+02:002007-10-03T02:02:00.000+02:00Hrm..."Amazing! After a single trial, the rat lear...Hrm...<BR/><BR/>"Amazing! After a single trial, the rat learned to associate the complex visual stimulus perceived at a particular location in the pool with the position of the platform."<BR/><BR/>How do you know it is a visual stimulus?<BR/><BR/>You should read Feynman's 1974 Caltech Commencement speech:<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.lhup.edu/~DSIMANEK/cargocul.htm" REL="nofollow"><BR/>http://www.lhup.edu/~DSIMANEK/cargocul.htm</A><BR/><BR/>The part toward the end about the rat/learning experiments of "Mr. Young" brings up some valid points about assumptions about how an animal knows about something -- e.g. in Young's case the rats could tell where the food was not by memory, but by the sound that the floor made when being crossed, or the smell, etc. etc.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com