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Related Experiment Video

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Testing for Metacognitive Responding Using an Odor-based Delayed Match-to-Sample Test in Rats

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Are we smart enough to remember how smart animals are?

Stefan Leach¹, Robbie M Sutton¹, Kristof Dhont¹

¹School of Psychology, University of Kent.

Journal of Experimental Psychology. General

|April 13, 2023

Summary

People’s memories about animal minds show biases, with meat-eaters favoring anthropomorphism for pets and mind-denial for farm animals. These memory biases influence beliefs about animal cognition.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Animal Cognition
Social Psychology

Background:

Theoretical perspectives on human judgments of animal minds include anthropomorphism and mind-denial.
Previous studies lacked objective criteria to assess the accuracy of these judgments.
Memory paradigms offer a method to test judgments about animal minds objectively.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate memory biases related to judgments about animal minds.
To examine how these biases differ between meat-eaters, vegetarians, and vegans.
To determine the impact of memory biases on beliefs about animal mental capacities.

Main Methods:

Nine experiments (3,162 participants) utilized memory paradigms to assess judgments about animal minds.
Participants' memory for animal-related information was tested shortly after exposure and one week later.
Mind-denying memory biases were experimentally induced to assess their effects.

Main Results:

Meat-eaters showed anthropomorphic memory biases for companion animals but not food animals shortly after exposure.
Vegetarians and vegans exhibited consistent anthropomorphic memory biases for both companion and food animals.
Both groups displayed a shift toward mind-denying biases when memory was tested a week later.

Conclusions:

Memory concerning animal minds can deviate from reality in predictable ways.
These memory biases, particularly mind-denial, can lead to underestimations of animals' cognitive abilities.
Understanding these biases is crucial for accurate evaluations of animal sentience and welfare.