Metalcognition in the rat
Metalcognition in the rat
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DOI：
10.1016/j.cub.2007.01.061
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发表时间：
2007-03-20
期刊：
影响因子：
9.2
通讯作者：
Crystal, Jonathon D.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Foote, Allison L.;Crystal, Jonathon D.
反思自己心理过程的能力，被称为元认知，是人类存在的一个决定性特征[1,2]。因此，比较认知学的一个基本问题是，非人类动物是否知道自己的认知状态。最近的证据表明，人类和非人类灵长类动物[4-8]，但不那么“认知复杂”的物种[3,9,10]也具有元认知能力。在这里，我们首次证明了老鼠具有元认知能力。在持续时间辨别测试中，他们知道自己不知道答案。在进行持续时间测试前，给予大鼠拒绝测试的机会。在其他试验中，他们没有选择拒绝测试的权利。在持续时间测试中，准确的表现会得到很大的奖励，而不准确的表现则不会得到奖励。拒绝考试会得到一个小而有保证的奖励。如果老鼠知道自己是否知道测试的答案，那么它们在困难的测试中被拒绝的频率最高，在无法被拒绝的困难测试中表现出最低的准确率。我们的数据为这两种预测提供了证据，并表明非灵长类动物对自己的认知状态有了解。
The ability to reflect on one's own mental processes, termed metacognition, is a defining feature of human existence [1, 2]. Consequently, a fundamental question in comparative cognition is whether nonhuman animals have knowledge of their own cognitive states [3]. Recent evidence suggests that people and nonhuman primates [4-8] but not less "cognitively sophisticated" species [3, 9, 10] are capable of metacognition. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that rats are capable of metacognition-i.e., they know when they do not know the answer in a duration-discrimination test. Before taking the duration test, rats were given the opportunity to decline the test. On other trials, they were not given the option to decline the test. Accurate performance on the duration test yielded a large reward, whereas inaccurate performance resulted in no reward. Declining a test yielded a small but guaranteed reward. If rats possess knowledge regarding whether they know the answer to the test, they would be expected to decline most frequently on difficult tests and show lowest accuracy on difficult tests that cannot be declined [4]. Our data provide evidence for both predictions and suggest that a nonprimate has knowledge of its own cognitive state.