Judith Lobo

Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Harley, Heidi

Keywords

Dolphin, Intelligence, Metacognition

Area of Concentration

Biological Psychology

Abstract

Metacognition is the ability to think about thinking. It is a level of cognition that enables us to be self-reflecting, self-monitoring, and to pry through the contents of our own minds. Metacognition has been found in some non-human species such as the rhesus monkey. There has been one study on dolphin metacognition, however, the results can be explained through associative learning rather than metacognition. The current study sought to elicit metacognitive behavior in one spotted and four bottlenose male dolphins. The dolphins were presented with an apparatus that consisted of a transparent base with two opaque plastic buckets placed on top. In the experimental condition, the buckets were baited while a transparent or opaque barrier was placed between the subject and the apparatus. If the dolphin was aware of its lack of information in the opaque barrier condition, he should have looked underneath the apparatus to seek more information about the placement of the baiting fish, thereby showing metacognitive behavior. Of the five dolphins, only one moved on to testing. During testing, he did not look under the apparatus in the opaque barrier condition, however, he did display a form of information-seeking behavior: he peeked around the opaque (and only the opaque) barrier during baiting two times. Although the dolphin's behavior was consistent with metacognitive processing, there are not enough data to make this conclusion solid.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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