The Cat and the Mirror

[chaoticidealism]

In my psychology classes, I learned about something called the "Mirror test", which is designed to determine if an animal has a sense of self. Human infants can pass this test at 18 months

Comments

Good thinking

[ext_832789]

Good points. I have always been sceptical of the mirror test as well as other tests that seek to measure animal's abilities using human-centric standards without reflection about all the different ways animals' consciousness can work (some of which we may not be able to perceive. But what you point out with cats and movement is very conceivable, and the same goes for other common senses).

It seems obvious that a visual appearance-focused test design favours visually oriented animals to whom appearance means something (just like humans do), and the decision to assume that the lack of spot-touching behaviour equals 'no sense of self' seems very naive. I don't understand why the researchers did not consider that. I suspect that some biased 'classic tests' survive long term not because they are valid but because they create powerful, memorable images that appeal to many humans. More complex thinking is often harder to communicate and 'sell'.

[fishlivejournal]

Fascinating!

How do they react to a TV outside the window broadcasting an image of a rival cat?

[chaoticidealism]

They don't react to videos of cats on my computer screen, so I think a video might be unrealistic enough for them to easily tell that it's not real, wherever it might be placed.

[foundunicorn]

I think they see the screen refreching, and therefore hard to make out the image.

[chaoticidealism]

I think that's probably it. With older CRTs, even I could see the screen refreshing, and cats perceive flicker even more efficiently. So there is an obvious difference between a video and a more detailed image. A mirror is very hard to tell apart from a window, since there's no refreshing and the same photons are being bounced back in the same configuration... You can tell it's a mirror because you can see the glass, but looking out a window you are also looking at glass, so they look the same except for lighting (indoors vs. outdoors). Put a mirror in a window and the lighting's the same.

By the way, my cats have occasionally responded to high-quality recordings of cat sounds, especially mewing kittens. Usually they try to find the kittens, nosing around my computer speakers. But it is never a frantic search. I guess a cat with a strong maternal instinct might be pretty frustrated, but mine just kind of get a bit confused.

[foundunicorn]

I”ve don this test I made up.
With the cat between you and a mirror, get the cat to look at the mirror, then reach for the back of the cat.
My cat will turn her head as I reach, so I know that she knows that the human and cat in the mirror are me and her.

[emdooey]

I like the way you think up a way to test situations. I try to do the same thing. I am fascinated with the why of things and seek to do whatever I can to understand.